Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình hit by third flood

CENTRAL REGION — Floods occurred again in the central provinces of Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình, due to heavy rainfall and water released from a local power plant.

It follows the floods in October and earlier this month.

Floodwaters isolated six communes in Hà Tĩnh’s Hương Khê District since yesterday, inundating these localities for the third time in a month since October 15.

Students were forced to stay at home to remain safe. Hương Khê was hit hardest by the repeated floods.

In Quảng Bình, roads to the communes of Sơn Trạch, Phúc Trạch, Thượng Hóa, Cao Quảng and Quảng Sơn were cut off by floodwaters. Water engulfed many homes in Sơn Trạch and Quảng Sơn, also for the third time in a month.

Residents in Sơn Trạch said the flow of water was so swift that they could not save their belongings from getting damaged.

Schools were forced to shut down temporarily as well. Teams of volunteers, who were helping affected families in the earlier floods, were unable to reach those areas.

Downpours in the provinces since Monday and release of water by the Hố Hô power plant, which is located between Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình, were blamed for causing the flood.

Repeated floods in October and early November have claimed 21 lives and damaged 12,000 houses in Quảng Bình.

The floods meant local students were late by three weeks in comparison with the national academic schedule. The province’s department of education and training early this week announced a subsidy package for students, with entire tuition fee exemption to those living in flood-hit areas and additional expenses, including stationary.

In related news, the Quảng Bình Department of Husbandry and Veterinary delivered 10,000 litres of chemicals used for hygienic spray in husbandry to farmers in the flood-hit area, preventing more diseases in the sector following the floods. — VNS