HÀ NỘI — Authorities of Hà Nội’s Chương Mỹ District are studying a plan to repair and upgrade the Bùi River dyke using pre-stressed concrete to ensure safety for residents when floodwater overflows, said Ðinh Mạnh Hùng, chairman of the district’s People’s Committee.

Next year, the capital will trial upgrading a weak dyke section covering 1.km, he told press at a meeting on Tuesday on floods in outlying districts of Hà Nội.

Due to prolonged torrential rain that started late last month in the north, the water level of the Bùi River rose to the third warning level (the highest) and overflowed. Residents of Tân Tiến, Nam Phương Tiến, Tốt Ðộng, Hoàng Văn Thụ, Mỹ Lương and Hữu Văn communes of Chương Mỹ District, together with others in Quốc Oai Mỹ Ðức districts were submerged in water.

The floods affected more than 4,600 households with more than 22,400 people.  

Chương Mỹ District, the hardest hit one, suffered losses of more than VNĐ264 billion (US$11.5 million).

According to the chairman, the water has receded and there are less than 1,000 households still submerged.

Hùng said that along with dyke renovations, transport and clean water supply systems must be ensured. Production activities of local people must be re-organised so their lives are less affected by floods.

For a long-term strategy, Hùng said residents living along the right side of the Bùi River dyke must be evacuated to safer places. The area on the right of the dyke will serve manufacturing purposes.

He added that Chương Mỹ District needs more than VNĐ447 billion ($19.5 million) to repair 11 broken or eroded dykes, to build the headquarters of Nam Phương Tiến Commune’s People’s Committee and to renovate five downgraded historical and cultural structures.

At the meeting, Đỗ Đức Thịnh, chief of the secretariat of Hà Nội’s Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, warned that the water levels of the Tích and Bùi rivers are high. Authorities must make plans to evacuate residents out of low lying and risk-prone areas. — VNS