Staying up all night to escape the flood in Soc Son

On the night of October 9, in the face of the flood situation on the Cau River rising above the third warning level, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh personally went to Trung Gia and Da Phuc communes in Hanoi, where many areas are deeply flooded due to rising floodwaters and some dykes are under threat, to direct the response and recovery work to overcome the consequences of the flood and protect people's lives.

Accompanying the Prime Minister were Comrade Bui Thi Minh Hoai, Politburo member, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee; General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and representatives of central and local ministries and branches.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directly inspected the dike in Trung Gia commune, Hanoi.

Trung Gia commune and Da Phuc commune are localities of Soc Son district in the past, located close to Cau river and Ca Lo river, so in recent days, the rapid increase in rain and flood after storm 11 has caused flooding in many places in the locality and seriously threatened some dikes in the area. According to the People's Committee of Da Phuc commune, due to the impact of storm No. 11, the water level of Cau river and Ca Lo river rose above the alarm level III, causing dike incidents in the commune including: landslides on the upstream dike slope at locations K17+700 and K8+270 on the left dike of Ca Lo. In particular, in the commune, there was also a level III dike overflow incident at locations K18+500 - K26+00 on the right dike of Cau with a length of 7.5 km (the peak of the overflow water compared to the dike surface was from 0.01 m to 0.30 m). Along with that, more than 1,511 houses and households outside the main level III dike were flooded and had to be evacuated, equivalent to more than 6,500 people having to be evacuated to a safe location.

The flood water of Cau River rose above the third alarm level, causing flooding in many places in the old Soc Son district of Hanoi.

Immediately after detecting the dike incident, the Da Phuc Commune Civil Defense Command urgently organized to handle the incident from the first hour with the motto "4 on-site" to ensure the safety of the works, lives and property of the people. For the level III dike overflow incident at location K18+500 - K26+00 on the right dike of Cau, Da Phuc Commune mobilized more than 10,000 people to patrol and guard the dike and handle the dike incident. All forces stayed at the scene, divided into seven "on-duty" areas day and night to handle the incident; at the same time, the commune government promptly provided necessities for the task force and people in the flooded area.

Rapid floodwaters have damaged a section of the Hanoi- Thai Nguyen railway line.

However, due to the flood water continuing to rise and flow rapidly, it washed away the roadbed and exposed the rails of the Hanoi - Thai Nguyen railway line through Da Phuc and Trung Gia communes on the afternoon of October 9, causing the railway line to be completely paralyzed. According to Ha Thai Railway Joint Stock Company, the incident occurred at Km17, floodwaters caused flooding and erosion of the railway bed with a length of 700m to about 1km, leaving only the rails above. Of which, the longest eroded section was about 35 - 40m and the remaining two sections had about 15m of roadbed eroded below the rails. Floodwaters also washed down the roadbed about 3 - 4m.

The Prime Minister requested to focus on protecting the dike, ensuring the safety of people's lives is paramount.

Inspecting the scene, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that these are vulnerable areas, requesting Hanoi City to coordinate with relevant ministries, branches and units to closely monitor the flood situation to have appropriate response plans, including taking into account the worst case scenario to proactively evacuate people to safe places, respond and prepare in the spirit of ensuring safety and life for people first and foremost.

The Prime Minister directly instructed at the scene about responding to the rising flood water on the Cau River.

The Prime Minister pointed out that it is absolutely necessary not to be subjective or negligent, to prepare means, vehicles, forces, especially the military, accommodation for people and necessary necessities, to evacuate people when necessary. At the scene, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called to direct Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Hoang Hiep to report on the flood situation on the rivers, requesting agencies to closely monitor the rain situation and water levels on the rivers to regulate water on the dams flexibly and appropriately, avoiding dike breaks downstream.

Rising floodwaters submerged many sections of the Hanoi-Thai Nguyen highway.

People and functional forces of Da Phuc commune add more sandbags to cope with water overflowing the dike.

Police force helps people in flooded areas in Trung Gia commune to evacuate their property.

Encouraging the forces on dike protection duty at night, the Prime Minister thanked the officers and soldiers for working all night with the highest sense of responsibility and urgency; requested the forces to assign tasks appropriately, with the most scientific and effective methods, promptly detect, respond to, and overcome even the smallest incidents as soon as they occur.

Authorities help people in flooded areas in Soc Son evacuate to safety.

Vehicles carrying military forces were dispatched to Soc Son to respond to the dike incident and help people.

Visiting and encouraging the local people, the Prime Minister shared the difficulties and losses of the people, hoping that people would always unite, support each other and if there is a flood, strictly follow the instructions of the authorities, giving priority to relief for the elderly, children and pregnant women. At the same time, he requested Hanoi City and relevant agencies to study long-term and fundamental solutions for the dikes because the river water level has now exceeded the historical flood peak.

NGUYEN QUOC

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/trang-dem-chay-lu-o-soc-son-post817222.html