Bac Khe 1 Hydropower Dam Break: Evacuate all people downstream

On the afternoon of October 7, due to prolonged heavy rain, the rapid and strong flow of water caused the Bac Khe hydroelectric dam (Tan Tien commune, Lang Son province) to break. Lang Son Provincial Police are also urgently coordinating with functional forces to deploy on-site forces to respond to the incident; at the same time, they advise people not to spread unverified information to avoid causing panic in the community.

The Bac Khe hydroelectric dam (Kim Dong commune, old Trang Dinh district, now Tan Tien commune) broke at around 1pm this afternoon. The broken section was about 10m long, located near the spillway, initially small, then expanded. Water from the dam rushed into the Management Board and downstream, causing the stream water to rise rapidly.

Scene of the Bac Khe hydroelectric dam break this afternoon.

Immediately after the incident, Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee Doan Thanh Son directly went to the scene to direct. There have been no recorded casualties. Local authorities and functional forces of Lang Son province have evacuated all people in the downstream area to safety.

Lang Son Provincial Police are also urgently coordinating with functional forces to deploy on-site forces to respond to the incident; at the same time, they advise people not to spread unverified information to avoid causing panic in the community.

According to initial information, from early morning on October 7, the authorities inspected and discovered that this hydroelectric dam had signs of cracks and was at risk of breaking, so they notified the people and, together with the local authorities, evacuated all the people in 4 villages downstream of the hydroelectric dam, about 200-300 households, to a safe place.

This is a small hydroelectric plant, with a reservoir capacity of only about 3 - 4 million m3. The dam failure, the water rushing in, combined with the heavy rains of the past few days, could cause flooding in neighboring communes, but not flash floods.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/vo-dap-thuy-dien-bac-khe-1-di-doi-toan-bo-nguoi-dan-o-ha-du--i783830/