Hydroelectric dam break in Lang Son: Preliminary damage to downstream area is 50 billion VND

On the afternoon of October 7, the People's Committee of Tan Tien commune ( Lang Son province) - an area located directly downstream of Bac Khe 1 Hydropower dam - quickly reported on the damage after the dam break.

According to the report, from the morning of October 6 to noon on October 7, Tan Tien commune had continuous rain, at times very heavy rain due to the influence of storm No. 11 (Matmo). Data from Bac Khe 1 Hydropower Plant recorded the water flow into the lake at 9:00 a.m. on October 7 at 1,181 m³/s, increasing to 1,562 m³/s at 12:00 noon on the same day. By 1:30 p.m., Bac Khe 1 Hydropower Dam in Bac Khe village, Tan Tien commune had broken, the damaged dam body was about 4-5m long and 3-4m deep.

The initial cause was determined to be prolonged heavy rains that caused the peak water flow to reach 1,572 m³/s, exceeding the design capacity, causing the concrete slab at the water intake to break and the central control room and many technical equipment to collapse. This plant has an installed capacity of 2.4 MW, a basin area of 325 km² and is invested by Bac Khe 1 Hydropower Joint Stock Company.

Concrete slab broken at the water intake of Bac Khe 1 Hydropower Plant at noon on October 7

According to the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention ( Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ), the incident directly affected 3 villages downstream (Tan Tien commune) including: Bac Khe, Na Soong and Hop Luc with 196 households (779 people). Of which, 23 households with 101 people were directly affected and were evacuated to a safe place, including: Bac Khe village with 7 households (25 people), Hop Luc village with 10 households (40 people) and Na Soong village with 6 households (36 people).

Local authorities have activated an emergency response plan, using telephones, Zalo groups and loudspeaker systems to notify people in the downstream areas including That Khe, Khang Chien, Quoc Viet and Trang Dinh communes, requesting immediate evacuation from the danger zone.

Authorities including the police, army, militia, medical and rescue forces have been mobilized, ready to search and assist people if a bad situation occurs. However, National Highway 3B is currently cut off at many points, making it difficult to access the scene.

Mr. Pham Duc Luan, Director of the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention, said that working groups are urgently going to the scene to check the extent of damage and assess the safety of the entire cluster of reservoirs in the area. First of all, it is necessary to ensure absolute safety for people in the downstream area and not let any secondary incidents occur.

PHUC VAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/vo-dap-thuy-dien-tai-lang-son-khu-vuc-ha-du-thiet-hai-so-bo-50-ty-dong-post816800.html