Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang has instructed hydropower plants to strictly abide by operational regulations, particularly flood discharge rules to ensure the safety of people located in low-land areas.
Da Nhim hydropower reservoir in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong discharged water early this week, destroying five houses and submerging hundreds of houses and thousands of ha of crops in Don Duong and Duc Trong districts.
Ba Ha river hydropower plant in central Phu Yen Province discharged 5,700 cubic metres of water per second on Tuesday, exceeding permitted volumes, prompting the water level in the Ba Ha River to rise to an alarming level. The discharged water submerged many highways and caused a large-scale blackout in Tuy Hoa City.
Prolonged heavy rains in the south-central region have prompted many hydropower plants to plan flood discharges.
Minister Hoang required management boards of hydropower plants to keep in contact with the national and regional hydrometeorological forecast centre to ensure they had the most up-to-date information on the progress of rain and floods, and to work with local flood and storm prevention and control committees to ensure the safety of local people during flood discharges.
He asked local industry and trade departments to increase safety inspections and hydropower plant flood discharges in localities.
Latest reports from the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control showed that heavy rain-triggered floods in south-central provinces from Phu Yen to Binh Thuan last weekend, killing at least 18 people and leaving six missing and six injured.
Floods inundated more than 17,800 houses and destroyed 618 others.
Chairman of central Quang Ngai province’s Tay Tra district Ho Van Canh said heavy rains triggered landslides in 14 areas, forcing 900 people to be evacuated.
The low pressure front has started to weaken, but heavy rains are forecast to continue in central provinces from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai, warned the National Hydrometeorological Forecast Centre.
The centre also warns of rough sea and whirlwinds off the central region coast from Quang Tri to Binh Dinh provinces.
