VietNamNet Bridge - After a week of flooding, the Tay Nguyen dam in Quynh Luu district (Nghe An Province) was broken yesterday, September 11. Hundreds of people had to evacuate.

At noon on September 9, when people of Dong Tam hamlet in Quynh Thang commune were having lunch break, suddenly the Tay Nguyen dam, located in the hamlet, was broken.

A 10m section on the dam was broken. Water from the reservoir washed away a lot of rice and vegetables in the fields below the dam.

The people living around the dam panicked because of the flowing water. Many households had to evacuate from their homes, being afraid the water would keep rising.

Once the dam broke, Quynh Luu district administration mobilized hundreds of people and machinery to fix the broken dam.

Rescuers used a lot of rock, sand and soil bags to mend the dam. By late afternoon, the broken piece was fixed. Water began withdrawing.

Mr. Le Duc Cuong, chairman of Quynh Luu district said that the broken dam can contain 1.2 million cubic meters of water. It was built in 1960 and has been seriously degraded. After over one week of heavy rain, the water in the dam rose high and the dam was broken.

The incident did not cause loss of life. The local government is making statistics of losses of rice and vegetables.

Compiled by Mai Lan