The Cang area, the most typical land of Hai Lang district, is not only because it is the province's rice granary, but also a river area with many specialties of fish and shrimp. In the dry season, people tilt their fields to collect water from the O Lau River to sow rice. In the flood season, they become fishermen on the vast fields. The people here live in harmony with nature, taking advantage of the fertile alluvium after each flood to have more full, milky rice grains.
Hoi Dien Gate in the middle of vast water - Photo: MT
I returned to the Cang area, Hai Lang district on the early morning ferry down the O Lau river of love. The dawn broke on the horizon, signaling a sunny day. People went to the wharf to wash, do daily activities, and their voices and laughter echoed across the river. In high spirits, the boatman leaned over to make a beautiful curve. On the other side, waves lapped the shore, where the sound of "who's joking around like this?" from the people of Hue, Phuoc Tich and Ha Vien villages of Phong Hoa and Phong Binh communes, Phong Dien district, could be heard. On this side, the boatman turned the boat back to the Quang Tri accent of the people of Van Quy and Hung Nhon villages of Hai Phong commune, Hai Lang district could be heard: "Oh, you're so funny, you dare to tease us." That's it, an O Lau river intersects two cultural regions with rich identities, imbued with the love story of the old ferry-wharf. The river carries heavy alluvium to irrigate the rice fields in the low-lying Cang area, making them more golden.
Old memories...
According to legend, more than 500 years ago, in the journey of opening up the land and establishing villages, our ancestors chose the land in the East of Hai Lang district, where there are fields of storks flying straight, with the O Lau river originating from the majestic Truong Son, to expand production and living space. Some people from Hai Tho, Hai Hoa, Hai Chanh, Hai Tan, Hai Thanh communes (Hai Lang) came to the low-lying rice fields behind the village, next to the O Lau river bank to make a living. These residential clusters are called cangs. There are 7 cangs in total, including: Cay Da, Hung Nhon, An Tho, My Chanh, Hoi Dien, Cau Nhi and Trung Don.
O Lau Love Story Stream, where the two cultures of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces intersect - Photo: MT
Once, when we were working at An Tho port, we saw farmers hurriedly harvesting rice, which was probably ready to be brought home to dry and store. We asked and found out that they had harvested the summer-autumn rice crop early to avoid the flood. An old farmer with white hair and beard shared: “Harvesting now only yields 5 or 6 parts, after deducting all expenses, it is considered a bad harvest. But looking at the clouds, we know that in about ten days, the early flood will come and cover the fields, at that time there will not be a single grain of rice left. Well, it is better to be green at home than to be in the field.”
As predicted, just 5 days later, the flood rolled in, completely inundating thousands of houses and properties. The basin-shaped terrain of the wards was flooded by river water: Thac Ma, O Lau, O Khe, Tan Vinh Dinh, Cuu Vinh Dinh. Agricultural production is regularly threatened by natural disasters due to 3 flood periods. The small flood occurs from May 15 to June 15 every year.
This is the harvest period of winter-spring rice and summer-autumn planting. The first flood occurs during the winter-spring planting period from December 15-31. The early flood occurs during the summer-autumn rice harvest period from August 20 to September 10. In Hai Lang district, each year during the main flood season, there are 4-5 medium and small floods that inundate almost the entire rice-growing area, crops and some residential areas. The common characteristic is that the flood comes quickly but recedes very slowly due to the low-lying terrain and there is only one way out to Tam Giang lagoon.
Mr. Tran Ngoc Son, Head of Cay Da fishing village, Dien Truong village, Hai Tho commune, humorously said: “People talk about floods in the fishing area like the catchphrase of drinkers “in three, out seven”. Each small flood lasts from 2 to 3 days, a big flood lasts from 4 to 5 days. But the flooding lasts from 3 to 7 days before it goes down to normal levels”.
People have stopped bringing bags to block the flow...
In the past, people in the low-lying areas of Hai Lang often recited the song: "When there is a high dike/ My people will stop using sandbags to block the flow" . No one knows since when, but using sandbags to block the dike, prevent floods to save the village has become a custom that is deeply rooted in the identity of farmers in the low-lying areas. And the wish became a reality when in 2010, the Disaster Risk Management Project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Flood Prevention Sub-project for the low-lying areas of Hai Lang was deployed by the People's Committee of Quang Tri province to build a modern concrete dike to prevent floods with a total cost of more than 200 billion VND.
We docked at Hoi Dien port, the boatman deliberately drove on the concrete road connecting the dike and the port, using a pole to measure the water level. He was dismayed: "The impact of storm No. 4 caused the concrete road to be flooded about 2 meters, the fields were flooded many times deeper, very dangerous". In the bright sunshine, people in other ports were cleaning their houses, drying rice, but here there was still a vast amount of water. That's how Mr. Son's saying "in 3, out 7" came to be understood.
A class at the school - Photo: MT
Hoi Dien has 42 households with nearly 200 people and 30 students of all levels. In the rainy season, parents take their students to school by motorboat. Previously, the dike was made of earth, so during the flood season, students were absent from school for months. Now, there is a solid dike that also serves as a traffic route, so schooling is only interrupted during major floods. Because of this "specialness", Hoi Dien is the only village recognized as equal to a village, the village chief enjoys the village chief's benefits, the other 6 villages do not. Of the 7 villages of Hai Lang district, Hai Phong commune has 4 villages: Hoi Dien, An Tho, Hung Nhon, Cau Nhi.
Vice Chairman of Hai Phong Commune People's Committee Cai Van Cu said: "The total rice area of the commune is 1,132 hectares, of which 4 fields are nearly 100 hectares. Rice yield reaches 7 tons/ha/crop. With the life like today, people in the low-lying area of Hai Lang are very grateful to the government for building a solid dike to protect property and crops, combined with building roads to serve people's lives and rescue during the flood season. This is an important artery for the 7 regions to further develop socio-economically."
To prove his words, Mr. Cu borrowed a motorbike to take me to each branch on the smooth dike line. Let me tell you a little more about this commune vice chairman. 15 years ago, I returned to work in Hai Hoa commune during a very big flood. At that time, around 3:00 a.m. on September 4, 2009, Mr. Nguyen Manh, Chairman of Hai Hoa commune People's Committee, was covered in mud and dirt, and his hoarse voice woke me up: "Ha Mieu culvert was broken due to the strong water pressure from upstream...".
Following Mr. Manh, I witnessed people gathering in large numbers using bamboo, straw, soil, and stone baskets to seal the mouth, but they were all swept away by the water. Under the bright electric light, a tall, shirtless man wearing shorts stood in the middle of the rushing flood water, calling on people to form a “human barrier” to reduce the force of the water so that the stone baskets could be lowered to seal the mouth.
And immediately dozens of people rushed down with him. They stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a rock-solid barrier that slowed down the raging water. This man told me: “I know it is dangerous to my life, and I have to take responsibility if something unfortunate happens, but there is no other way because behind me are the lives of thousands of people in the low-lying areas, and thousands of hectares of rice that have not been harvested yet are being flooded...”. That brave man is Cai Van Cu.
Still many concerns
I met the chiefs of the dykes: Tran Ngoc Son, Cay Da dyke; Cai Van Thoi, An Tho dyke; Le Van Linh, Hung Nhon dyke, all of whom affirmed the important position of the dyke line for the lives of the people in the dyke area.
The dike resembles a giant dragon, winding along the banks of the O Lau, O Khe, Tan Vinh Dinh, and Cuu Vinh Dinh rivers, from Hai Son commune through low-lying communes to Hai Thanh commune of Hai Lang district. The dike is reinforced on three sides with thick concrete slabs after passing through a flexible filter layer. The dike surface is 4 m wide on average, and 5 m wide in some places. The roof and top of the dike ensure stability when the main flood season floods overtake. The sections of the dike that are combined with rescue roads during the rainy and stormy season have a spacious car shelter every 500 m.
Before entering the area, I talked with Mr. Duong Viet Hai, Vice Chairman of Hai Lang District People's Committee and shared the concerns of the district leaders. Mr. Hai said that the dike line has prevented minor floods and early floods, protecting the production areas of 12 communes in the low-lying area of Hai Lang. However, the unusually heavy rains in late March and early April 2024 exceeded the flood prevention capacity of this dike line. After each annual flood season, the river banks are severely eroded, with some sections eroding right up to the foot of the dike, forming a frog's jaw. The positive slope along the dike is paved with cracked concrete slabs. The district is proposing to the superiors to upgrade the elevation of the dike line and the drainage pumping system to ensure flood prevention and crop protection for about 5,000 hectares in the low-lying area of Hai Lang.
I called the cheerful ferryman to say goodbye so that Mr. Cu could take me to the center of Hai Lang district by motorbike. It was so dark, and there was also information that the dike line was damaged, was it too dangerous? I was worried. “Don’t worry, he has more than 20 years of experience as the vice chairman of the commune People’s Committee (previously Mr. Cu was the vice chairman of the Hai Hoa commune People’s Committee, now Hai Hoa and Hai Tan have merged into Hai Phong commune, he holds the position of vice chairman of the Hai Phong commune People’s Committee). This is the road he took to the district meetings for so many years, so he remembers every pebble and every broken woven board. The wish of the people here is for the State or organizations to sponsor a solar power system along the dike line to facilitate travel. Maybe at first it will be about 50m per pole, if there is continued funding, it will be thicker,” Mr. Cu shared.
I agree with the legitimate aspirations of the people in the area, as well as the enthusiastic and responsible heart of the vice chairman of this commune.
Minh Tuan
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/tro-lai-vung-cang-190731.htm
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