Former Minister Le Huy Ngo's storm-fighting times with people

"I always think about storms and floods. Whenever there is a storm, I feel anxious. It has become a way of life," former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo once shared.

Mr. Le Huy Ngo, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ) passed away on the morning of September 16 at his home in Hanoi, at the age of 88. He was known as the "Minister of Storms and Floods", "Old Man of Storms and Floods" because he was often in the rain and floods, directly directing the rescue of people, rice, and villages.

Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo.

Since October 1997, Mr. Le Huy Ngo has been the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Head of the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention. And from here began his journey of fighting storms with the people.

In early November 1997, typhoon Linda made landfall in Con Dao and the southern provinces of Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, and Ca Mau. At that time, Mr. Le Huy Ngo had just taken office for 10 days. He immediately convened a meeting of the Steering Committee. With the Prime Minister's permission, Minister Le Huy Ngo established a special task force under his charge, and went into the eye of the storm to directly direct the military and people to respond to the historic storm.

That night, a storm swept across the Vung Tau sea. The next morning, the rescue team was on a helicopter flying out to sea. Looking down from the plane, a heartbreaking scene appeared: people were clinging to broken boats, life buoys, plastic water cans… densely packed as if they were swimming in the sea.

When asked, Mr. Le Huy Ngo shared that this was the loss that haunted him the most during his years of flood and storm prevention. Minister Le Huy Ngo recounted that he had directed localities, units of Military Region 7, Military Region 9, Air Force, Border Guard... to overcome the consequences for a whole month.

Another warning was the "great flood" of November 1999, the terrible flood that occurred in Quang Tri - Quang Ngai and Hue was the most severely affected place.

Mr. Le Huy Ngo directly directed the response to the historic flood in the Central region in 1999. (Photo courtesy).

Minister Le Huy Ngo once shared this memory in the press: " We used boats and military amphibious vehicles to go out into the streets; some places were 1.8 meters deep, some were 2 meters deep. Everyone climbed onto the roofs. Wherever we went, people raised their hands to the roofs: Save us, save us. That whole night, we saved 70-80 people ."

Having just finished their work in Hue, the special task force received a telegram from the People's Committee of Quang Nam province reporting that Phu Ninh reservoir, which has a capacity of hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water, is at risk of bursting, directly threatening Tam Ky city. If the dam breaks, more than 300 million cubic meters of water in the reservoir will be a giant bomb that will fall on the delta and tens of thousands of Quang Nam households will be swept out to the East Sea in an instant.

" I remember it was 3pm on December 4, 1999. As soon as I got off the plane, I went to Phu Ninh dam. After inspecting the situation, at exactly 7pm I requested an emergency meeting. At that time, Phu Ninh lake water had reached 35m. The red alert level forced us to release flood water or it would break. But if we released the flood water, Tam Ky was already 1m8 deep, if we released it again, everything would be flooded and the most dangerous thing would be children and the elderly. If we kept it, would it be safe?

After discussion, the working group and the brothers in Quang Nam chose the option: keep the spillway at the minimum level and keep the dike as fiercely and as high as possible to ensure that the water does not overflow the dike and cannot let the dam break. Because releasing floodwaters at night like that is not allowed, and leaving the dam to endure like that is also not possible because the flood will come. Therefore, they combined both: releasing the spillway at the minimum level so that the water flows as far as it can and at the same time increasing the force.

For 2 hours in the morning, I sat on the Phu Ninh dam measuring and watching the water. That whole night, the Phu Ninh dam was safe.

It can be said that this was a decisive battle that we will remember for life and we thought of our compatriots, the people, the armed forces, the technical staff who coordinated to handle the situation with resolute and drastic direction, but with enough strength in intelligence as well as in terms of force organization, which is a valuable lesson ," Mr. Ngo recounted.

Minister Le Huy Ngo (dark shirt, right) inspected flood and storm prevention work in 1999 with General Secretary Le Kha Phieu. (Photo courtesy).

After retirement, every time he was interviewed by the press, Mr. Ngo still did not forget to mention storms and floods. “ I say I am retired, but in fact I have not had a single day off. I always think about storms and floods. Whenever there is a storm, I feel anxious. It has become a way of life, guys. They say I am a minister with a sad face, and it is true. Honestly, how can I be happy because I have experienced too many storms and seen too many scenes of people suffering after storms. It has become an obsession, an obsession like a soldier who has witnessed many comrades sacrificed.

Storms and floods are disasters for the people. That is when people need your presence the most, not at any other time. Your presence is the presence of the Party and the State, ” Mr. Ngo once expressed.

Mr. Le Huy Ngo was born on August 13, 1938, in a family with a rich revolutionary tradition, in Tinh Hai commune, Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province (now Hai Binh ward, Thanh Hoa province). He passed away on the morning of September 16, 2025, at the age of 88. The funeral of former Minister Le Huy Ngo will be held from 9:00 to 11:00 on September 18, 2025. The memorial service will be held from 11:00 to 11:30 on the same day at the National Funeral Home, No. 5 Tran Thanh Tong - Hanoi. Burial at Thien Duc Memorial Park, Phu Tho province.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/nhung-lan-vuot-bao-cung-dan-cua-nguyen-bo-truong-le-huy-ngo-5059188.html