Localities in the northern region are urgently implementing responsive measures against the complex development of floods as water levels in local rivers are increasing.

Hundreds of soldiers and locals in Thanh Binh commune, in Hanoi’s Chuong My district, urgently build a sandbag dike to consolidate the left bank of Bui Rive dyke against the rising floods on July 30. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn) 

According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, from July 30 to August 2, there will be a flood with margin ranging from 0.5-3m in the upstream of the Hong-Thai Binh River system.

On July 30, the Offices of the Central Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and the National Committee for Emergency Response and Search and Rescue urged Hanoi and Hoa Binh province to quickly deploy measures to deal with the heavy rains and rising river water.

As predicted, Hoa Binh will suffer from heavy rains again today with the rainfall ranging from 50-100mm. It is likely that the water level on the Bui River in Yen Duyet (Chuong My district, Hanoi) will rise, 1m higher than the flood warning level 3 (very dangerous) – the penultimate level in the four tiered flood warning system in Vietnam.

Flooding in the lowland areas of Chuong My (Hanoi) and Luong Son (Hoa Binh), especially Nam Phuong Tien, Hoang Van Thu and Tan Tien communes (Chuong My district), will be extended in the coming days.

Amidst the floods continuing to flow towards Hanoi, on Monday afternoon, Hanoi People's Committee Chairman, Nguyen Duc Chung, inspected the flood control work on the left bank of Bui River dyke passing through Thanh Binh commune, Chuong My district.

According to the Chuong My leaders, the right bank of Bui River dyke with a height of 6.5 m and has been overflowing for a week. The 7.5m left bank is dangerous as water continues to flow in. The flood is forecast to reach its peak on August 1 and is likely to cause flooding to National Highway 6, Ha Dong district and several areas in the inner city.

Chairman Chung asked the local functional forces on Monday night to urgently to build a sandbag dike onto the 8 km Bui dyke system to an additional height of 50 cm, while ensuring the safety of the dyke and supplying 5,000 drinking water bottles for local consumption. The localities were urged to intensify inspections and be ready to relocate 14,000 households to safe places as the floods continue to rise.

Meanwhile, as of Monday afternoon, water levels in rivers and reservoirs across Hanoi are rising, with floods in the Day River at Ba Tha station (Ung Hoa district) and Kim Quan station on Tich River, all higher than warning level 2. At present, water levels in five of the 13 large reservoirs in Hanoi have crossed the design threshold.

According to the latest reports, 13 out of 286 large reservoirs in the North are full of water, while the remaining reservoirs have reached 45-75% of their design capacity.

Up to now, there are nearly 90,000 ha of rice crops and 18,547 ha of vegetables that have affected by rains and floods, of which, 19,409 ha were completely destroyed.

In Hoa Binh province, heavy rains over the past few days have caused 95 houses to collapse due to landslides and 76.6 ha of rice crops were inundated. Heavy rains also affected the traffic, mainly due to landslides and flooding. To ensure the safety of local people, Hoa Binh has evacuated 16 households in Muong Chieng and Giap Dat communes, where there is a high risk of landslide.

Several reservoirs of hydropower plants in the central region, including Ba Thuoc 2 (Thanh Hoa province) and Ban Ve (Nghe An province) started discharging water on July 30 to ease pressure on the reservoirs. Locals in the downstream area have been informed to take initiatives in protecting their properties during the discharge.

Nhan Dan