More than 1,000 residents in Chau Doc town in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang successfully repaired a 40 meter dyke breach Saturday to save over 2,100 hectares of rice crops from flooding.

According to Colonel Le Manh Thuong, deputy head of the provincial Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention, over 1,000 people had helped to re-fortify the dyke, working all through Friday night in Vinh Te and Vinh Chau Communes.

All pumping stations are currently operating at full capacity to pump floodwaters out of 600 hectares of flooded rice fields in the two communes.

Meanwhile, landslide threatens to breach four kilometers of a 5.2 kilometer dyke in An Nong Commune in Tinh Bien District. Local authorities have mobilized hundreds of people to work round the clock to refortify the dyke.

According to the Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention, there is still about 600 kilometers of dyke that needs re-fortifying as flood levels still continue to remain above the danger mark of level 3. So far, the province has 1,000 kilometers of dyke system in need of reinforcing.

Damage caused by flooding is increasing day by day in Dong Thap Province. On Saturday, total damage was estimated at VND884.3 billion (US$42 million), an increase of VND26.3 billion since last Thursday.

The numbers of inundated houses have also risen to about 21,500 from 2,240 last Thursday in Tan Hong, Tam Nong, Hong Ngu, Thanh Binh, Cao Lanh and Chau Thanh Districts.