High tides caused sea water to overflow the western sea dyke in Cà Mau Province’s Trần Văn Thời District last month. — VNA/VNS Photo Huỳnh Thế Anh

CÀ MAU — The Cà Mau Province People’s Committee has petitioned the Government to allocate VNĐ410 billion (US$17.6 million) to build and upgrade erosion prevention works along its western sea dyke, which has been eroded in many sections.

It has also petitioned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to evaluate the conditions of climate change and sea water to adjust zoning plans for building and maintaining natural disaster prevention works along the dyke.

Lê Văn Sử, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee, said the weather in the province’s western coast area had been more complicated recently.  

New and dangerous erosion had occurred on the 108km western dyke since 2019, threatening the safety of property and local people living near the dyke, he said.

On July 10 - 11, strong waves caused by winds and high tides eroded three places with a total length of 110 metres along the dyke in Trần Văn Thời District.

During this period, sea water flew over the dyke’s Kênh Mới Canal - Đá Bạc Sluice section many times, with each time lasting 30 – 60 minutes.

The district also had rainfall of 146 mm and a maximum high tide level of 1.75 metres while the average level was only 1.4 metres in past years.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province has had two unusual high levels of high tides in the past three years.

Existing erosion prevention works along the dyke can no longer cope with such unusual phenomena and the requirements of preventing natural disasters, according to the People’s Committee.

The People’s Committee has announced emergencies to solve five deeply eroded places with a total length of nearly 3,000 metres along the dyke.

It plans to spend about VNĐ36.9 billion ($1.6 million) to build erosion prevention works at these eroded places.

Cà Mau, which is the country’s southernmost province, is a peninsula with around 254km of coast.

The areas of mangrove forests along the province’s coast have declined and there are no mangrove forests in some places. — VNS