Many other kinds of plants including corn and vegetables are also dying when the fields start to crack due to water shortage.
Some neighbouring districts of Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, and Yen Thanh are also seeing hundreds of hectares of corn and vegetable fields dying.
There are now 1,061 lakes and reservoirs in Nghe An Province and over 200 of them are having water levels of 40 percent of their designed capacity, over 700 others with water levels of between 40-70 percent, and nearly 30 others at dead level. The water level at Vuc Mau Reservoir currently stands at 18.92 million cubic metres compared to its design capacity of over 75 million cubic metres.
Ban Ve Reservoir, the biggest reservoir in the central region, also saw the water just 1.46 metres above dead level on July 7. It is forecasted that Nghe An will continue to face droughts and widespread saline intrusion in the coming dry season.
