Tourists and residents of Hoi An struggle to escape the flood

During the night of November 16 and the morning of November 17, prolonged heavy rain combined with flood discharge from upstream hydropower plants caused the water level of the Hoai River to rise, causing serious flooding in Hoi An ward, Da Nang city.

Many roads in Hoi An ancient town and neighboring areas are submerged in water, severely affecting people's lives and tourism activities.

Water rose rapidly in Hoi An, people and tourists hurriedly ran away from the flood ( Video : Ngo Linh).

On the morning of November 17, many major roads in Hoi An ancient town such as Bach Dang, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Cong Nu Ngoc Hoa... were flooded 0.5-1m deep. In addition to the center of the ancient town, suburban areas such as Thanh Ha fish market and Thanh Ha pottery village (in Hoi An Tay ward) were also cut off by floodwaters.

According to locals, from late October to early November, the old town was continuously submerged in water due to rising floods, causing great damage to souvenir, silk, and clothing businesses.

Mr. Nguyen Van Minh (57 years old, Hoi An ward) said this is the 4th time Hoi An has been flooded in more than half a month. Having just experienced a historic flood at the end of October, now once again cleaning up to escape the flood makes everyone feel frustrated and tired.

“During the flood at the end of October, my facility suffered heavy damage. The water was more than 1.5 meters deep and more than 40% of my belongings were damaged. My life and business were seriously affected. The suffering is indescribable,” said Mr. Minh.

In An Hoi neighborhood, where many restaurants, homestays and hotels are located, the water level rose more than 0.5m. People were busy cleaning up and raising their belongings, while trucks were constantly coming in and out to move goods to higher ground.

Mr. Tran Huu Trang (65 years old, Hoi An ward) said: "The water continues to rise rapidly, we use the water level from the recent historic flood to raise the furniture. By noon at the latest, we will have completed the evacuation of goods, the elderly and children to a safe place."

“My family has been packing since dawn and we haven’t stopped yet. If the water continues to rise this afternoon, we’ll have to stay on duty to pack more. We’ll just have to move things up as the water rises, but now we don’t know where else to move them,” said Mr. Phung Chau, a resident of Hoi An ward.

Tourists staying here also moved quickly, they were quite excited to follow the locals to escape the flood for the first time.

“This is the first time I witnessed this scene, it was an unforgettable memory for me. The water in the hotel where we were staying had reached the lobby, everyone was urged to quickly evacuate because there could be a power outage and water outage if the flood continued to rise,” said Maria, an Australian tourist.

According to the Central Hydrometeorological Station, on the morning of November 17, the flood level at 10:00 a.m. in Hoi An was 1.55m.

It is forecasted that in the next 12 hours, floods on rivers will continue to rise, Vu Gia River will reach alert level 3, Thu Bon River will reach alert level 2, Han River and Tam Ky River will reach alert level 1 to alert level 2.

In the next 12 to 24 hours, floods on rivers will fluctuate at alert level 1 to above alert level 2, especially Thu Bon River, which will fluctuate at above alert level 3. Flooding on rivers will last for many days.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/du-khach-va-nguoi-dan-hoi-an-lai-vat-va-chay-lu-20251117143139427.htm