Worries in the Village of Twilight

Standing on Phong Du Thuong bridge looking at the landslide area, one can feel the terrible devastation caused by the flood. Houses are precariously balanced on their foundations; cobblestones, stone cages, concrete blocks… are scattered. The concrete road is cracked and open, leaving bare banks, vulnerable to landslides in the next rain.

“This flood is more severe than storm No. 3 in 2024. Ngoi Hut stream is now dozens of meters wider, although many households have proactively built stone walls and poured concrete, they were still completely washed away!” - Mr. Hoang Van Khoa - Vice Chairman of Phong Du Thuong Commune People's Committee, shared when leading us to inspect the damage.

Rising waters swept away structures and eroded house foundations.

According to the people's reflection, the prolonged heavy rain due to the circulation of storm No. 10 caused the flood of Ngoi Hut stream to rise 4-5 meters high, rushing down, the sound of water mixed with the sound of rolling rocks, creating a terrifying sound. The entire area of land, houses, outbuildings such as barns, toilets, trees, and livestock of 33 households were uprooted from the ground, drifting along the muddy water. Land, stone embankments, and concrete embankments were "torn apart", each piece of negative slope collapsed like a wound in the heart of the village.

Flood water makes the concrete road "frog-mouth" open.

As soon as the flood warning was received, the Phong Du Thuong commune authorities activated their disaster prevention plan. Mr. Hoang Van Khoa - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: "We have proactively checked the risk areas, including organizing the emergency evacuation of all 33 households to a safe place before the flood. Thanks to that, although the property damage was huge, we are very happy that there were no human casualties. After the flood receded, we implemented measures to help people stabilize their lives."

Immediately after the flood receded, local rescue forces helped families build temporary embankments to reinforce their house foundations.

Living for more than 10 years by the Ngoi Hut stream, witnessing many big floods, Mr. Hoang Van Tuan is still shocked: "Never seen such a big flood. Since that day, whenever we hear about rain, my family prepares an evacuation plan."

Saving up to build a 2-storey house worth more than 1.4 billion VND from 2022, then investing an additional 70 million VND to reinforce the land with a concrete embankment, but after only a few hours, the entire outbuildings and the seemingly sturdy concrete wall were swept away by the flood, leaving only the foundation of the house. To prevent the house from collapsing, right after the flood receded, with the support of the rescue forces of the village and commune, Mr. Bui Van Hung's family was forced to continue investing another 30 million VND to pour concrete to make a temporary embankment. He mused: "To protect our property, despite the difficulties, we still try to overcome them, but I don't know if the temporary embankment can withstand the rain and floods again."

Mr. Bui Van Hung talks about the historic flood.

According to statistics from the People's Committee of Phong Du Thuong commune, the flood caused by the circulation of storm No. 10 caused serious damage to infrastructure, housing, and agricultural production in the commune. Particularly in Lang Chang village, many points on the Gia Hoi - Dong An route suffered large landslides; 500 meters of concrete road around the central belt were cracked and had open mouths; 300 meters of stone gabions at the foot of the road were completely washed away; 5.6 hectares of rice, nearly 2,000 square meters of fish ponds and 370 poultry were washed away. In particular, 33 households were affected by landslides on the negative slope, at risk of losing their homes.

The material damage caused by storms and floods can be measured, but the mental loss is hard to describe. Ms. Tran Thi Thieu choked up: "My family lost their house and toilet to the flood, causing hundreds of millions of dong in damage. I don't know when I will dare to repair the house again. The feeling of living without knowing what tomorrow will bring is really tiring. Now, every time it rains heavily, the whole family doesn't dare to sleep, just worrying about the water rising suddenly."

Ms. Tran Thi Thieu with the remaining assets after the historic flood.

Nearly a month after the historic flood, the people of Lang Chang are gradually returning to their daily lives. Amidst the ruins, they are still trying to get up, but their eyes are still filled with worry: will they still have a home to return to tomorrow when natural disasters are becoming more and more complicated and unpredictable? "We really hope that the State will have a plan to build a dike to protect people's lives and property" - Ms. Tran Thi Thieu suggested.

Mr. Mai Van Nam - Head of Lang Chang village said: "If there is just one more big flood, the houses of the local households will probably no longer exist, and at the same time, 3 hectares of rice fields and the entire system of central works of the commune will be threatened. We hope that the authorities at all levels will soon pay attention to investing in building a solid embankment system to protect the lives and property of the people and the State."

Through research, it is known that in addition to implementing immediate solutions to overcome the consequences of storms and floods and stabilize people's lives, the Phong Du Thuong commune government has made proposals to the province to invest in building embankments so that local households can have a more stable and safe life.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/noi-lo-o-lang-chang-post885128.html