Hanoi: Urgent protection of Cau River dike, evacuation of people from dangerous areas

On the morning of October 9, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong and Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen inspected and directed the work of protecting the dike, ensuring the safety of people's lives and property against the exceptionally large flood of the Cau River.

Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong and Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen inspect and direct dike protection in Trung Gia commune. Photo: Van Ky

In a quick report to the city leaders, Party Secretary and Chairman of the People's Council of Trung Gia Commune, Le Huu Manh, said that the commune currently has about 2,400 households with over 9,000 people suffering from local flooding, affecting their lives and activities. In particular, An Lac, Binh An and Lai Son villages are deeply flooded, with a high risk of loss of safety for people and property. In this situation, the commune has urgently organized the evacuation of people from dangerous areas, mobilized motorboats, canoes and support forces to move people to safety.

Vice Chairwoman of Da Phuc Commune People's Committee Hoang Thi Ha said that the commune has mobilized more than 4,000 people and vehicles to evacuate more than 1,000 households with more than 4,000 people living along the river and in low-lying areas to safety; at the same time, it has organized checkpoints to control people and vehicles entering and exiting at-risk areas, preventing people from returning to look after their property at places where evacuation orders have been issued. The forces have built up soil to prevent flooding in many low-lying dykes with a total length of more than 5km...

Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong inspects and directs dike protection in Da Phuc commune. Photo: Do ​​Bac

At the inspection, Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong emphasized: Ensuring the safety of people's lives is the number one priority. Along with that, units and localities need to make maximum efforts to minimize damage to people's property. He also requested functional forces to strengthen the protection of people's property during evacuation, arrange temporary accommodation carefully, and avoid shortages of food and water.

For villages that are heavily flooded, the Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee requested that all residents be evacuated by 3 p.m. on October 9. In cases where they do not evacuate, the local authorities will resolutely enforce the evacuation to ensure safety.

Authorities and people of Da Phuc commune build up land to prevent the Cau River from flooding into residential areas. Photo: Pham Son

The Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee requested units and localities to review the entire system of dikes, dams, bridges and culverts to promptly handle the risk of landslides. For Highway 35 leading to the landfill area, city leaders requested to put up warning signs in deeply flooded areas, divert traffic, and avoid danger to people and vehicles. After the water recedes, it is necessary to focus on environmental sanitation, disinfection, disease prevention, and urgently stabilize people's lives and restore production.

The Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee also assigned the relevant departments and branches to coordinate with Trung Gia and Da Phuc communes to review and assess the extent of damage to have timely support solutions. At the same time, it is required to study planning and arrange long-term resettlement for households in areas that are frequently flooded, in accordance with the current increasingly complex climate change context.

Many locations on the Cau River dike continue to be filled with soil by authorities and residents of Da Phuc commune to prevent floods from entering residential areas. Source: Pham Son

Regarding hydrology, the Northern Hydrometeorological Station said that at 10:00 a.m. on October 9, the water level of the Cau River at Luong Phuc station reached 9.97 m, 1.97 m above the level III flood warning; the Ca Lo River at Manh Tan station reached 9.46 m, 1.46 m above the level III warning. It is forecasted that from the afternoon of October 9 to the morning of October 10, the flood on the Cau River and Ca Lo River will continue to rise; it may peak at 4:00 a.m. on October 10 at 10.2 m on the Cau River and 9.7 m on the Ca Lo River.

Many residential areas along the Cau and Ca Lo rivers will be deeply flooded in the coming days. Photo: Pham Son

The above agency warned that the flood on Cau River and Ca Lo River is at a very high level, causing flooding in low-lying areas, mid-banks and riverbanks, with a common flood depth of 0.2-0.6m, and in some places it is deeper than 0.6m. The flood can last 2-4 days, and in some places it is longer. The particularly large flood also threatens the safety of key dykes, underground dykes, spillways, bridges, culverts and traffic routes in many riverside communes such as Trung Gia, Da Phuc, Thu Lam, Phuc Thinh, Quang Minh, Tien Thang, Noi Bai...

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/ha-noi-khan-cap-ho-de-song-cau-di-doi-dan-khoi-vung-nguy-hiem-719007.html