Bui River dyke upgrade mooted

Houses inundated in floodwater in Chuong My District, Hanoi. - VNA/VNS Photo Van Canh

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 Hanoi.

Due to prolonged torrential rain that started late last month in the north, the water level of the Bui River rose to the third warning level (the highest) and overflowed. Residents of Tan Tien, Nam Phuong Tien, Tot Dong, Hoang Van Thu, My Luong and Huu Van communes of Chuong My District, together with others in Quốc Oai My Duc districts were submerged in water.

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

Chuong My District, the hardest hit one, suffered losses of more than VND264 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, Hung said residents living along the right side of the Bui River dyke must be evacuated to safer places. The area on the right of the dyke will serve manufacturing purposes.

He added that Chuong My District needs more than VND447 billion ($19.5 million) to repair 11 broken or eroded dykes, to build the headquarters of Nam Phuong Tien Commune’s People’s Committee and to renovate five downgraded historical and cultural structures.

At the meeting, Do Duc Thinh, chief of the secretariat of Hanoi’s Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, warned that the water levels of the Tich and Bui rivers are high. Authorities must make plans to evacuate residents out of low lying and risk-prone areas.