The rain has been stopped, the flood water has receded, the flash flood remedial work has basically been completed. The past 48 hours in Hai Van have been a “never happened” event here…

October 14, 2022

It rained heavily in Da Nang. The Board of Directors of Deo Ca Traffic Infrastructure Investment Company (HHV) regularly updates the raining situation to report and seek guidance in dealing with the storm.

At 19:50, it was raining heavily and water began to rise on the roads of Da Nang city, the Board of Directors of HHV Company directed the staff on duty to remain in their positions, the following shifts stay at home to ensure safety, keep the phone connected to receive announcements from the Board of Directors as well as the Board of flood prevention of the Company.

At 20:30, the Operations Center was informed of a landslide at Km 10+200 of the south-leading road to Tunnel 1. A staff was deployed to handle the scene. At this time, it was raining heavily with high winds and the amount of water began to overflow from the mountainside down the road leading to the tunnel. The service road is completely flooded.

At 20:35, the roundabout area in front of the southern tunnel at Km 12+000 began to flood. Vehicles cannot move, causing congestion. Hai Van tunnel rescue force was deployed to ensure traffic safety and contacted local authorities for coordination.

20:40, floods spilled from the top of the mountain to the southern square area, completely destroying the guardrail. The water rose and flowed rapidly from the mountain through the south square of the Hai Van tunnel, washing away the building in the west of the tunnel, knocking down the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) of the network operators, resulting in no communication by mobile phones. The staff moved all specialized vehicles to a safer location and cut off all power to the square and VMB house to ensure safety. 100% of the force is on the scene checking the machinery and equipment in the area to minimize the damage.

The amount of soil, rocks and trees pouring in more and more filled the square and the path. At the scene, there was a container truck stuck in the water in front of Hai Van 1 tunnel door. There were 07 vehicles and 20 people stuck in the tunnel in the north-south direction and 04 vehicles in the opposite direction. The people were panicked and anxious. At that moment, the force on duty in the North approached the stuck vehicles in the tunnel to inform and reassure passengers and give them food and drink….

The vehicles on bridge No. 1 in the South-North direction were requested to back to bridge No. 2 to ensure safety. At this time, the operating center is completely isolated from other locations, the phone cannot connect, only exchanging some information via radio waves. The rain was still heavy and the wind was strong.

At 20:42, the Chief Operating Officer ordered to stop traffic through the tunnel and at the North and South checkpoints. The water poured down carrying soil, rocks, sand and large trees blocking the road, knocking down all the obstacles in the way and surrounding the entire operator’s house where the monitoring and rescue force is working and specialized vehicles gathering. In this dangerous circumstance, the staff has always received the close attention of the Board of Directors of the Company, the leaders of the Group with the requirement to ensure the safety of people first, then minimize the damage.

21:00, the water washed away all the motorbikes in the garage. The Chief’s voice sounded in the walkie-talkie: “All staff does not rush into the water, please keep safety”. At this time, the traffic control team in the southern area still works in the pouring rain to prevent cars that wanted to pass. The team in the north deploy fire trucks to block the road and closed the barriers at both tunnel entrances.

22:00, the flood water swept away the traffic police station at the southern entrance of the tunnel, drowned the area from the end of bridge No. 1 to Km7+200 of the tunnel. The soil and rock in front of the southern tunnel stretch over 200m, nearly 2m thick and spreads over 60m; the total volume of soil and rock is estimated at several tens of thousands of m3.

At 23:00, the amount of water is still very large, but now the flow is gentle and there are no more obstacles on the way. The leaders directs to open the tunnels to release the stuck vehicles and reduce traffic pressure on National Highway 1A, which has been congested since 19:00 on the same day.

The enterprise leaders requested wheel loaders, trucks and workers with hoes and shovels determined to open tunnel 2, prioritizing traffic in each direction in turn in the tunnel.

23:40, Receiving the information that the roads that are still heavily flooded and impassable, the Board of Directors told the forces to proactively handle the situation while waiting for support. 1 loader driver was dispatched to walk up to the tunnel to operate the vehicle. Standing in front of a mountain of rocks and trees blocking the path, although all the brothers were tired when they had to stretch themselves in flood water from 15:00 to 23:50, they also determined to clear tunnel 2 before 6:00 a.m. on October 15, 2022.

October 15, 2022

03h00, the rain has stopped and the water gradually receded, the staff has handled more than half of the soil and rock volume on the south-leading road of Hai Van tunnel 2. During break time, the staff ate packets of uncooked instant noodles. The leader showed the brothers a message of encouragement from the Board of Directors, all determined to clear the road according to the promised time. At this time, the traffic police of Hue and Da Nang is also constantly updating the handling situation at Hai Van tunnel to open the route on the national highway.

6:00 a.m., the south-north lane of Hai Van Tunnel 2 has been cleared but there was much chaos. The shift leader reported to the Board of Directors and asked for the direction to open traffic in each direction through Tunnel 2. The Board of Directors agreed and requested the authorities to cooperate to ensure absolute safety for vehicles traveling in slippery road and two directions on one lane.

6:15 a.m, leaders of the Company and specialized boards were present at the scene, urgently completing the clearance for both tunnels. General Director Nguyen Quang Huy requested the specialized boards to immediately mobilize higher capacity excavators, wheel excavators and crawlers to deploy synchronously, directing the Enterprise’s Board of Directors to mobilize the entire force to work overtime, working continuously to ensure the clearance of the scene as quickly as possible.

08:00, 5 excavators and 10 trucks continued to be reinforced. At the scene, the forces have been deployed. Each team was assigned specifically and commanded by the Management Board of Hai Van Tunnel Enterprise.

11:00 a.m, The road surface of the south-leading route was basically cleared, the departments focused on handling tunnel 1. Leaders ate cakes and lunch boxes right on the rocks with the brothers and encouraged the whole team. The enterprise tries to clear the two tunnels before 14:00 on the same day. After a 15-minute lunch break, the staff continued to move into position with the highest determination.

At noon, On the direction of the Chairman of the Group, Vice Chairman Vo Thuy Linh got the first flight to be resumed to present at the scene to directly direct the remedial work.

13:00, the last trail of Tunnel 1’s leading road appeared with the joyful cheers of everyone present. The mud, rock and tree branches from the depths of tunnel 1 were pushed out of the tunnel so that traffic could begin.

13:15, both directions of 2 tunnels were cleared, the tunnels were open for traffic.

The traffic clearance greatly contributed to traffic safety and reduced pressure on the route, but there are still thousands of cubic meters of soil and rock piled high on both sides of the road that need urgent treatment. Otherwise, just a light rain, all the rocks will spill onto the road, making everyone’s efforts meaningless.

Mr. Vo Ngoc Trung, Deputy General Director of the Company asked the departments to continue to strengthen their forces and vehicles to widen the lanes at the 2 tunnel entrances to ensure the safety of the passengers. Simultaneously, the rescue forces get ready to timely handle any situations that occur. Thus, the work of clearing the scene with a very large amount of soil and rock along with ensuring the safety of vehicles traveling through the safety tunnel continued to be carried out.

20:00, when the volume of soil and rock at risk of landslides has been handled, the Company’s Board of Directors directs the staff to give the brothers a break to continue tomorrow. Regarding the Hai Van pass route, which was seriously eroded, requiring urgent handling, the Board of Directors directed to mobilize another team to ensure traffic, rescue approach the scene to perform overnight tasks.

October 16, 2022. 20:00, the Hai Van tunnel has been cleared to ensure traffic, but the amount of soil and rock is still a lot, most of the traffic safety signs and soft guardrails in front of the 2 tunnels are severely damaged, the landscape of the flower garden is completely damaged, the repair needs more time…

Silent Contributions

After more than 48 hours, including 6 hours dealing with the flash flood, Hai Van tunnel staff have ensured the safety of people and vehicles, equipment and other assets of the Group, ensuring timely and flexible handling in all situations to achieve the best results.

After the day, a staff recalled his story. When the flood was still continuing to surge, the house was flooded more than 1m, all roads were filled with water and it’s forbidden to go out, Mr. Tran Dinh Cong – a worker driving a backhoe excavator, received a phone call from the Executive Board of the Company for support. With a sense of responsibility, Mr. Cong volunteered to take on the task in the middle of the flood, at that time he was added to the zalo group “Hai Van storms and floods protection”.

Mr. Cong said, “With all my ability, I am ready to support the Group in any situation. When I received the phone call from the Company leader, I began to move to the scene. It’s 11km from my house to the Executive Board, which normally takes 15 minutes to arrive, now it takes me nearly 2 hours to be present because I have to walk over the heavily flooded points with rushing water”.

In the situation that the whole city is affected by flash floods, the Executive Board of Hai Van Tunnel Company has announced that the employees should prioritize handle for their houses first if flooded. However, 100% volunteered to participate in the scene to open the road. The storm has passed, but the images of the shirts bearing the Deo Ca logo, carrying the enthusiasm and desire to dedicate themselves to the smoothness of the national traffic artery have been imprinted in the minds of people.

By Ngoc Trung – Anh Tuan – Tra My