Hydro plants discharge massive amounts of water in centre

December 17, 2016 - 07:00

Rainfall ranging from 150mm to 400mm over the past two days has flooded communes and villages in the central provinces of Thừa Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa.

Water floods road in Hòa Liên Commune in Đà Nẵng. VNS Photo Ngọc Phú
Viet Nam News

QUẢNG NAM — Rainfall ranging from 150mm to 400mm over the past two days has flooded communes and villages in the central provinces of Thừa Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa.

To handle rising water levels, 14 hydro-power plants and eight irrigation lakes in the central and Central Highlands region started discharging water through spillways on Dec. 15.

Six reservoirs of hydro-power plants in Thừa Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam, and Phú Yên discharged huge volumes of water, ranging from 2,800 cubic metres per second to 917. The massive water discharge is expected to further exacerbate river and rain flooding in these areas.

Floods also isolated and interrupted traffic on 16 provincial roads in Thừa Thiên-Huế as main roads in the districts of Phong Điền, Quảng Điền and Hương Trà were submerged in up to 2 metres of water.

Serious floods also occurred in the districts of Đại Lộc, Điện Bàn, Duy Xuyên and Hội An City in Quảng Nam; while four districts – Nghĩa Hành, Mộ Đức, Đức Phổ and Tư Nghĩa – in Quảng Ngãi Province were also submerged in water as high as 1.5m.

More than 823 households in Tư Nghĩa District in Quảng Ngãi were isolated by flooding, while some inner roads of Quảng Ngãi City were also submerged.

Rescue forces in the central province helped 1,579 households move to safety.

In Phú Yên Province, 17 communes were flooded.

The Centre of Flood and Storm Prevention in the Central and Central Highlands regions forecast 200mm to 300mm rainfall in provinces from Thừa Thiên-Huế to Phú Yên till Saturday, while medium rainfall is expected in the coastal southcentral provinces through Sunday.

Water rose up from 1.8m to 2.5m (over the emergency grade 3) in Hội An City and suburban areas along the Hoài River yesterday morning.

Traffic was also temporarily interrupted in some roads in Bình Định and Phú Yên.

In Đà Nẵng city, floods also cut off 420 households in Hòa Liên Commune in suburban Hòa Vang District, while 105ha of newly seeded rice area was deeply submerged.

Rivers in Quảng Nam, Bình Định, Quảng Ngãi, Phú Yên and Gia Lai are expected to rise through the weekend. -VNS

Hòa Liên Commune in suburban Hòa Vang district in Đà Nẵng city. VNS Photo Ngọc Phú
Boats carry luggage for tourists at some hotels in Hội An. Photo courtesy of Trần Phương Thảo
Water rises in Hội An market. Local traders had to close their stalls and moved to higher areas.
Hoi An city. Flood interrupted traffic along the banks of Hoài River. VNS Photo Công Thành

E-paper