A stretch of the western dyke system is temporarily reinforced in Tran Van Thoi district of Ca Mau province (Photo: VNA)Ca Mau (VNA) – Serious erosion has been spotted at many sections on the sea dykes along the western coast in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, posing threat to fields inside the dyke, said the province’s steering committee for natural disaster control and search and rescue on August 5.
According to reports from U Minh district, four dyke sections in the locality were damaged with the combined length of 451m.
To make the situation worse, the protective forest belt along two damaged sections has disappeared, while the forest areas protecting the other sections have become thin.
Ca Mau has been hit hard by erosion along sea and river dykes. Up to 80 percent of the 254km of sea dykes that runs along both the eastern and western coast in the province have been eroded to some extent. The sea has eaten into land by a pace of 20-25m each year, even 50m in some sites, thus swallowing up protective forests. The province has lost nearly 9,000 ha of forest over the past decade.
Besides, drought has caused cracks and sinking in long sections of the sea dyke. Erosion along river banks has also occurred many times in Ca Mau, affecting 3.26km of river banks and damaging 360m of roads.
Since the beginning of this year, the provincial authority has accelerated the speed of projects on reinforcing sea dykes ahead of the storm season./.
VNA
