Thousands of flooded motorbikes are exposed on the streets in old Phu Yen, people are waiting for repairmen and spare parts.

Phú Yên - Ảnh 1. — Damaged motorbikes lined up in front of the repair shop in old Phu Yen , people patiently waited to return to work after the flood - Photo: CHAU TUAN

For the past two days, most of the motorbike repair shops in the wards and communes of old Phu Yen that were swept away by the historic flood have been in a state of "overload".

The water has just receded and the road has not yet dried. Repairing a motorbike submerged in water is one of the first things that people in flooded areas think of.

"Without a motorbike to travel, it's like being isolated in the flood," said Nguyen Nghia, a resident of Ban Thach village, Hoa Xuan commune, as he took his motorbike to a repair shop on Highway 1 near Ban Thach bridge.

Mr. Nghia’s house was flooded above the door, and his car was covered in mud when he and his family returned from a neighbor’s house after several days of escaping the flood. It took Mr. Nghia an hour to clean the car until it looked shiny again.

But the motorbike was soaked in water for too long and wouldn't start, so Mr. Nghia had to walk from the village a kilometer to the repair shop. "Please help soon, boss," Mr. Nghia said when he saw the motorbikes packed tightly in the shop, spilling out onto the national highway.

Hàng ngàn xe máy ngập lũ, phơi đầy đường ở Phú Yên cũ, người dân ngóng thợ sửa xe và phụ tùng - Ảnh 2. — Repairmen said that due to the high number of vehicles, they had to work from noon to evening so that people could have vehicles in time to travel and stabilize their lives after the flood - Photo: CHAU TUAN

The images of vehicles needing to be “dried” after the flood are even more numerous along the roads leading to Hoa Thinh commune. Damaged motorbikes are parked in rows in front of shops. Some have been left for 3 days but still haven’t been repaired.

Sitting at Chi Cong motorbike repair shop, Mr. Ngo Thai Trung (from Hoa Thinh commune) said that all four motorbikes in his house were flooded. However, he only brought one motorbike to be repaired so he could get around quickly. "Now I have to endure the long wait, because without a motorbike, I can't go anywhere and I can't do anything."

At a nearby repair shop, the owner, Mr. Toan, was also wearing a raincoat, sitting on the sidewalk, trying to check the spark plugs on a customer's motorbike.

Many people just come and leave their cars on the sidewalk in front of the shop, leave a message asking for repair and then leave. Toan’s wife has to laboriously arrange each car a little more neatly so as not to take up too much space on the road.

"I know people are eager to have a vehicle to go shopping. Now they have to buy a lot of things and run around after the flood. But I can't bear it anymore," said Toan while still opening the other motorbike to check.