PM Phạm Minh Chính checks in with military personnel who were reinforcing the right embankment of Cầu River passing through Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính visited Hà Nội's outlying Trung Gia and Đa Phúc communes on Thursday night to oversee flood response and recovery efforts after learning that many areas were heavily inundated as river levels rose.

For more than a day, rising river levels have flooded parts of the communes, prompting the local civil defence command, together with military, police, and volunteer forces, to encourage and assist residents to evacuate to safety, while reinforcing embankments to prevent floodwaters from breaching them.

So far, the main and auxiliary dikes, along with smaller local embankments in villages such as An Lac and Phong My, have been raised by about one metre, keeping floodwaters from spilling into residential areas.

However, on October 9 afternoon, sections of the Hà Nội–Thái Nguyên railway passing through Trung Gia commune were eroded and washed away, causing track sagging and a temporary shutdown of the line. Teams from Việt Nam Railways Corporation were on-site assessing the damage and planning repairs, with work expected to be completed soon.

At the site, PM Chính ordered Hà Nội authorities to closely monitor river levels and implement appropriate flood response measures to ensure residents’ safety.

It is essential to remain vigilant, keep equipment, vehicles, and personnel, particularly military forces, ready, and ensure shelters and essential supplies are in place to evacuate residents if needed, he emphasised.

The leader also called Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Nguyễn Hoàng Hiệp for an urgent briefing on river levels, instructing agencies to closely monitor conditions and manage upstream reservoirs flexibly to prevent downstream dike breaches, including carefully timing spillway operations at hydropower reservoirs.

That night, he visited the forces working overnight to reinforce the dikes and local residents, urging the community to stay united and support one another, and, in the event of flooding, to strictly follow official guidance, with priority given to rescuing the elderly, children, and pregnant women.

PM Phạm Minh Chính inspects the parts of the railway that has been damaged from floodwater. — VNA/VNS Photo

The PM asked Hà Nội authorities and relevant agencies to study long-term, fundamental solutions for the dike systems, as river levels have now surpassed historical flood peaks.

He was accompanied by Secretary of the Hà Nội Party Committee Bùi Thị Minh Hoài, Chief of the General Staff of the Việt Nam People’s Army and Deputy Minister of National Defence General Nguyễn Tân Cương, and other officials. — VNA/VNS