Ensure safety for people
After 10 p.m. on October 7, boats and canoes of Lang Son province's armed forces were still on duty on National Highway 4A, the starting point of deep flooding, through Coc Phat village, That Khe commune to move assets and evacuate households in deeply flooded areas to safety. Some people in this commune used rafts made of bamboo trees to move through the flooded area. The forces on duty in the "flood center" of That Khe stayed up all night to watch the flood water, ensuring the safety of the people.
Getting on a small boat that officers and soldiers of the Lang Son Provincial Military Command were using to evacuate people from flooded areas to safety, crossing a distance of more than 1km on National Highway 4A, which was heavily flooded in places up to 1.5 to nearly 2m, VNA reporters clearly felt the lurking dangers. Starting from the flooded area in Coc Phat village, the small boat carrying 6 people was occasionally rocked by waves from passing boats carrying officers and soldiers to rescue people and evacuate.
On both sides of the road, level four houses and high-rise buildings were flooded almost to the first floor. Many areas had no electricity, and it was pitch dark. In high-rise buildings, people had moved all their belongings to higher floors and moved to the second floor to wait for the water to recede. When people needed it, local authorities were ready to support and help with the spirit of not letting anyone go hungry, thirsty, or trapped in the flood area. The officers and soldiers of the Provincial Military Command and Provincial Police were drenched in the rain, their clothes soaked with water, present in the most difficult, deepest flooded, and most dangerous places when people needed help. These were beautiful images, imbued with the love between the army and the people during the storm and flood...
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Lam in Coc Phat village, That Khe commune shared that the local authorities informed him of the risk of rising water causing deep flooding in the area, so from noon on October 7, with the support of local forces, the whole family of 7 moved their belongings and moved to stay with relatives in a higher area, more than 1km away from the flooded area in Coc Phat village. That Khe is considered a low-lying area, and is often flooded every time there is continuous heavy rain. In September 2024, there was also heavy flooding here. Therefore, to ensure safety, the family moved out of the house early and only returned when the water receded.
Directly performing the task of supporting people in flooded areas of That Khe commune at night, soldier Pham Van Quyen, Mobile Police Team, Lang Son Provincial Police said that officers and soldiers in the Team received orders to go to That Khe from the afternoon of October 7 to participate in supporting people. Regardless of day or night, when there is a request for rescue from the people, officers and soldiers of the unit are ready to perform the task and only leave the area when the flood recedes.
Commanding the force participating in supporting people in the flooded area of That Khe, Colonel Dam Xuan Bach, Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff of the Military Command of Lang Son province, informed that as soon as receiving news that floodwaters had caused deep inundation and isolation in some communes such as Van Nham, That Khe, Trang Dinh, Tan Tien, Huu Lung... the unit sent 200 officers and soldiers of the regular army, more than 400 officers and soldiers of the militia; 6 motorboats of various types, nearly 1,000 life jackets, 500 rescue buoys to coordinate with local forces to support and help people in the flooded area.
Currently, the most difficult things for officers and soldiers on duty in flooded areas are power outages, darkness, and deep water. However, with the spirit of serving the people, the forces on duty are determined to stay in the flooded areas to help the people...
Prepare flood response plan
The leader of That Khe commune said that 10 out of 33 villages in the commune were flooded, some areas were isolated and traffic was cut off. The whole commune had about 800 households with water entering their houses. Out of the total of over 4,600 households in the commune, about 500 - 600 households in low-lying areas with potential risk of deep flooding have been evacuated to safe places. Currently, National Highway 4A through That Khe commune, more than 1km long, is deeply flooded, vehicles cannot move, so vehicles from Lang Son to Cao Bang and vice versa need to choose another route to move.
Faced with the unpredictable developments of floods, from the experience of being deeply flooded many times in recent years, the commune has proactively developed plans to prevent, combat and respond to floods according to each level of weather and natural disasters to ensure forces and means to rescue, support and handle any arising problems; arrange and allocate school areas and village cultural houses that are not flooded as accommodation for those who have to evacuate their homes due to deep flooding or the risk of landslides...
Talking to the press on the night of October 7 while monitoring the flood situation in the area with the leaders of That Khe commune, Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee Doan Thanh Son said that as soon as receiving information about the impact of storm No. 11, causing heavy rain in the area, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee directed localities to deploy flood response work early, especially in areas that often experience flooding during heavy rain. In the "flood center" of the communes: Trang Dinh, That Khe... from the morning of October 7, local authorities organized to review and evacuate people in low-lying areas to safety.
However, this flood caused a section of the Bac Khe 1 hydroelectric dam to break, in Bac Khe village, Tan Tien commune, at about 1:30 p.m. on October 7. The dam break is about 4-5 meters long and 3-4 meters deep. Bac Khe 1 hydroelectric plant has a reservoir capacity of about 4 million m³ of water. Tan Tien commune has evacuated all residents in the downstream area of the hydroelectric plant, including about 196 households and 779 people, to a safe place. Thanks to proactive response and early evacuation, the incident did not affect people's lives.
Although the floodwaters were high, many places were deeply submerged, and travel and transportation conditions were extremely difficult, in order to promptly direct the response to the incident, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Canh Toan and leaders of the Provincial People's Committee, departments and branches of the province approached the scene of the Bac Khe 1 hydropower dam on the evening of October 7. Currently, the broken dam location has not spread further, and the spillway is still ensuring flood discharge.
Currently, the province is continuing to closely monitor developments at the incident site at Bac Khe 1 hydropower dam and assigning specialized agencies to consider timely solutions to ensure long-term safety. For now, because the foundation of the irrigation dam is quite weak, mechanical equipment cannot be brought in to handle the situation immediately. On the morning of October 8, the working group of Lang Son province and Military Region 1 inspected the scene of Bac Khe 1 hydropower dam to closely assess the extent of the incident and discuss the fastest solution.
According to the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Lang Son province, in addition to the Bac Khe 1 hydropower dam failure, due to heavy rain, the flood on the rivers has risen, causing many villages and communes in the province to be deeply flooded and isolated, such as: That Khe, Trang Dinh, Huu Lung, Van Nham... The province has directed the functional forces of the province such as the Army and Police to coordinate with the locality to be on duty 24/24 hours to promptly respond to unusual developments of weather and floods with the highest goal of ensuring absolute safety of people's lives.
Communes arrange staff to be on duty at hotline numbers to receive information, respond to rescue, and promptly evacuate people in areas with rapidly rising water, dangerous deep flooding, and high risk of landslides to safe places...
According to reports from communes in Lang Son province, floods have affected over 2,000 households; of which, 3 houses collapsed in Thien Tan commune; 63 houses suffered landslides, 36 houses had to be evacuated to safe places due to the risk of landslides behind their houses; nearly 2,000 households were flooded from 30cm to 2m and isolated many areas in the communes: Yen Binh, Van Nham, That Khe, Trang Dinh.
The whole province has more than 150 traffic points with landslides and floods, many bridges, tunnels and roads are partially flooded, landslides of over 10,000 m3 of soil and rock. Some electric poles were broken and caused widespread power outages in Nhat Hoa commune. Some remote villages in Quy Hoa and Thien Hoa communes lost telecommunication networks.
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/xuyen-dem-ho-tro-nguoi-dan-o-vung-ron-lu-lang-son-20251008063102414.htm
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