Hydropower reservoirs discharge water, lowland people flooded out The rains in the central region in recent days are not as heavy as the one that caused the historical flood in 1999. However, they have caused more severe consequences because hydropower reservoirs discharged water at the same time.      More than 200,000 houses got inundated, more than 1,500 hectares of rice and crops has been damaged, while the death toll has reached 70. The report of the Central Region Flood and Storm Control Committee showed that 15 hydropower reservoirs discharged water at 30-600 cubic meters per second. Due to the heavy rains, the water levels of the reservoirs from Quang Nam to Binh Dinh provinces rose high quickly, which forced hydropower plants to discharge water. Also according to the report, a lot of reservoirs discharged water at the capacity over than 400 cubic meters per second, such as Huong Dien 485 cubic meters per second, Song Tranh II 2,046 cubic meters per second, Dak Mi 4A 491 cubic meters per second, Ya Ly 740 and Song Ba Ha 3,400. As a result, the lowland got seriously inundated. Meanwhile, on the afternoon of November 17, Dong Van Tu, a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development--when answering local newspapers, attributed the heavy floods in the south of the central region to the heavy rains. He said the hydropower reservoirs in the south of the central region were lacking water with the stored water volume just equal to 40-60 percent of the designed capacity. “It is true that some reservoirs discharged water, but this was a part of their plans to stop flooding. The water discharge did not occur at the same time. Therefore, it was not the reason behind the terrible flooding in the region,” Tu said. In Quang Nam province, the flood had gone down by November 17, but local people still could not regain their calm. “I have been living here for 40 years and I have never seen such a terrible flood before,” said Vo Vui, a local resident in Phuoc Hiep commune. According to Nguyen Thi Bich Sinh, Chair of the Phuoc Hiep Commune People’s Committee, in general, the local authorities received notice about the water discharge in advance. However, there was no notice this time, therefore, local people have suffered heavily. Thousands of houses in Dai Loc district were reportedly inundated under the water. “The water level rose so quickly that we could not do anything except running away to save our lives,” said Nguyen Thi Hanh in Dai Loc district. In Da Nang City, 4,000 households with 15,000 people in Hoa Vang and Lien Chieu districts had to leave in an emergency. By 2 am of November 16, all the 1,000 houses in Hoa Chau commune were deeply under the water. Tran Van Truong, Chair of Hoa Vang district People’s Committee, also said the information about the water discharge came too late, because people could not respond to emergency. “The Hoa Vang district local authorities only received the notice on the water discharge on November 16, when the houses were inundated already,” Truong said. Meanwhile, Chair of Dai Loc district Nguyen Van Truc said though the water discharge at the large capacity was warned, people still suffered heavily because a lot of reservoirs discharged water at the same time. Mai Chi, VietNamnet