The flood passes... the love remains.

10 hours of flood avoidance on the bathroom roof

On the morning of September 11, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Huyen, 23 years old, held her personal belongings and some food at the checkpoint, waiting for the rescue team to allow her to return home after the floodwaters in Quang Vinh ward ( Thai Nguyen city) receded.

Even though the flood has passed, Huyen's eyes still cannot hide her worry about her father, because he has decided to "hold out" at home to protect the family's property.

Since the night of September 8, the Cau River has been rising, flooding into houses in some wards of Thai Nguyen City. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Recalling the moment around midnight on September 8, Huyen said, when the family of three were sleeping, the floodwaters began to rush into the house, waking everyone up. The water came in so fast that moving furniture to higher ground became hopeless. After a few hours, the water had reached more than half of their bodies, Huyen and her mother quickly climbed onto the roof to take a bath, while it was still pouring outside, and her father "absolutely refused to go up".

"Regretfully, almost all night, my father immersed himself in the raging flood, using all his strength in the hope of salvaging some of his property...", Huyen's eyes were about to cry, remembering.

Nguyen Ngoc Huyen (center), 23 years old, residing in Quang Vinh ward, Thai Nguyen city, stands at a checkpoint, waiting for authorities to allow her to return home after flood waters recede, September 11. Photo: Minh Ngoc

That night, floodwaters surrounded Huyen’s fibro-cement roofed house. In the blink of an eye, the water kept rising, and a neighbor couldn’t escape in time, so he had to climb onto the roof of Huyen’s bathroom to take shelter. As the morning wore on, the water rose to nearly 2 meters, and all the trees in Huyen’s garden were submerged.

Huyen's house is located deep in an alley in Quang Vinh ward, surrounded by many trees, so it was not until 10 am on September 9 that the rescue team arrived and moved the three people on the bathroom roof to safety. As for Huyen's father, he still had no "intention of leaving". "Who knows if the water continues to rise and sweeps away all the furniture, I'll keep whatever I can here," he told Huyen.

Huyen's father's most important and valuable asset when he decided to stay was his "brick" phone, luckily it was still fully charged. "You have to take care of it and call me often. Mom and I are leaving now," Huyen told her father before being taken away by the rescue team.

A resident in Quang Vinh ward (Thai Nguyen city) wearing a life jacket, wading in the muddy flood water to evacuate some belongings, on the morning of September 10. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Taken by the government to a hotel to avoid the flood, there was no shortage of food, water... but every time she remembered her father fighting the flood, 23-year-old worker Nguyen Ngoc Huyen burst into tears.

Due to the flood, the power grid was cut off, the telecommunications network was unstable, sometimes you could call, sometimes you couldn't. At times like that, in Huyen's mind, she imagined the worst things that could happen to her father... but then all those fears and worries passed when on the morning of September 11, her father called, "The water has receded, my child!".

"When I heard the news from my dad, I was so happy that I left my mom at the hotel and immediately went home to see how my dad was doing. His phone battery was almost dead," Huyen told Dan Viet while waiting for the authorities to allow her to go home.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tang, group 1, Hoang Van Thu ward (Thai Nguyen city) collects sandbags after floodwaters have receded, September 11. Photo: Minh Tien

In Hoang Van Thu ward, Mr. Nguyen Van Tang is also rushing to clean up his house as the flood waters have receded. Mr. Tang said he is still luckier than many families living along the Cau River and in level 4 houses, because the flood waters rose so quickly that they could not run away.

"This area has occasionally experienced floods before, but never has it been as strong and fast-rising as this time," said Mr. Tang. Before storm No. 3 made landfall, Mr. Tang had been informed that the storm's circulation would cause heavy rain, so he had prepared more than 20 sandbags to prevent water from entering his house. He thought his preparations were complete, but all his calculations were unsuccessful.

When floodwaters overflowed the sand "dyke" on the night of September 8, all 5 members of Mr. Tang's family, adults and children, were able to evacuate to the 2nd and 3rd floors in time.

Originally a rice trader, when the flood came and rose so quickly that Mr. Tang was caught off guard. The 50 tons of rice, worth hundreds of millions of dong in cash, were also swept away by the floodwaters. Opening the warehouse door, Mr. Tang pointed at the bags of rice and mumbled, "If it's lost, it's lost. When the flood comes, human life is the most important thing. As long as people live, property will remain."

50 tons of rice in Mr. Tang's family's warehouse were soaked in flood water for more than 2 days, causing hundreds of millions of dong in damage. Photo: Minh Tien

Marching at night, bringing hundreds of people out of the flood

The rescue team with 20 boats and 20 members of Mr. Hoa, residing in Phuc Tan commune (Pho Yen city) was one of the teams that arrived almost the earliest at the "flood center" in Quang Vinh and Hoang Van Thu wards to work with the authorities to evacuate people from the flooded area.

"Our group are all people who work on the river on Nui Coc Lake. We are all very good at water and have boats. When we heard that some places in Thai Nguyen City were flooded, I immediately called on my brothers, rented a car with a motorboat, and marched that night to promptly evacuate people from the flooded areas... all for the sake of our fellow countrymen," Mr. Hoa said, then jumped into the muddy flood water, up to his neck, to bring people onto the boat.

Mr. Hoa helped move a family in Quang Vinh ward out of the flood zone. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Mr. Hoa's rescue team is taking people in the flooded area to safety. Photo: Minh Ngoc

On the morning of September 10, Mr. Hoa said, the team had brought hundreds of people out of the flooded area to safety. For those who remained, the team also delivered bottles of water, noodles, and candles to each person in the spirit of "not letting anyone go hungry or thirsty."

On a motorboat moving to flooded areas in Quang Vinh ward, Mr. Hoa told Dan Viet: "Wherever we go, we receive the affection of the people. The most important thing is to see that they are still safe, have enough food and water to drink through this flood, that's what makes us happiest."

Mr. Hoa smiled brightly after delivering food to people in the flooded area in Quang Vinh ward, Thai Nguyen city. Photo: Minh Ngoc

In addition to the 20-member boat team, Mr. Hoa's group also has 50 people on duty outside to prepare food, drinks, necessities and support people in flooded areas when needed. "When we were in trouble, people in the city helped us, now that they are in trouble, we help them back," Mr. Hoa smiled and spoke simply.

On the morning of September 11, after the flood water in Quang Vinh and Hoang Van Thu wards had basically receded, Mr. Hoa's team also quietly withdrew... Those simple, affectionate people returned to their rural work such as: fishing, aquaculture, transporting tourists ... on the poetic, affectionate Nui Coc Lake!.

Source: https://danviet.vn/thai-nguyen-lu-du-qua-di-nghia-tinh-o-lai-sau-tran-lut-lich-su-20240912114925814.htm