More than 1,000 hectares of crops in a district of Dak Lak Province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, has been affected by prolonged drought even though multiple other localities were hit by severe rain-caused flooding.

It has not rained in M’Drak District since May, said Nguyen The Thap, head of the district’s Office of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Even when the province was hit by a massive rainfall brought about by a tropical depression in early August, the weather was still sunny in M’Drak, Thap continued.

According to Thap, over 1,000 hectares of rice paddy in M’Drak have withered, while a large volume of other crops such as corn, cassava, and beans is also suffering from serious water deprivation.

“The drought has left me empty-handed,” said Phan Thi Thanh, who has lost all of her rice paddy.

Meanwhile, Pham Van Hoa and his family members have been pumping water from a local reservoir to his farm, in order to save what is left of his paddy field.

Hoa, however, is still uncertain about the fate of his crops as the reservoir is drying out due to the absence of rain.

M’Drak District has a total of 63 irrigation projects, Thap elaborated, adding that the hot and dry weather has caused the water in local reservoirs to quickly evaporate.

Local authorities have taken all possible measures to help farmers save their remaining crops and plants, the official stated.

In contrast to the torrid situation in M’Drak, other localities in Dak Lak including Ia Lop, Ia R’ve, Ia Loi, and Ea Rok Communes in Ea Sup District were hit by prolonged downpours on August 7.

As of Thursday, a total of 30,000 households in these localities have remained unreachable due to flooding.

Similarly, torrential rain and inundation also impacted Buon Don District, Cu M’gar District, and Buon Ma Thuot City during this period.

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