QUẢNG BÌNH — Flood waters broke a protective dyke in Quảng Bình Province on October 17. No casualties were reported.

Some 20m of the dyke was breached in the province’s Bố Trạch District due to continuous heavy rainfall caused by a low tropical depression in the central provinces last week.

The incident will affect the livelihood and agricultural production of the locals.

The district’s authorities have arrived at the scene to instruct and support residents in clearing the area and preparing for a coming storm, Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn, vice chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee, said.

The district provided some 2,000 sandbags, as well as bamboo poles and stones, to fix the dyke to prevent saltwater from intruding into the upstream flow and the domestic water source of the residents.

The dyke plays a major role in preventing saltwater intrusion and protecting agricultural production of not only Bố Trạch District, but also of the four neighbourhood districts of Bắc Trạch, Mỹ Trạch, Hạ Trạch and Thanh Trạch.

Another dyke in the province’s Cam Thủy Commune is also at risk of breaking due to heavy rainfall. Nguyễn Bá Trọng, chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee, said the rains had caused landslides and broken 60m of the dyke downstream and 30sq.m. of its concrete foundation.

Since the dyke is the only route connecting Tân Lộc Village with the commune’s centre, if it breaks, some 100 households will be isolated and saltwater will flood their paddy fields, Trọng said.

Heavy rains on October 13-15 flooded some 800 households, causing water to overflow from some 40ha of lakes, damaging 70ha of paddy fields and killing thousands of cattle in the commune, he said.

By yesterday morning, the storm had killed nine and injured 13 people, drowning 15 fishing boats and swamping some 71,000 households in Quảng Bình Province. — VNS