Farmers in Bac Ninh are busy harvesting unripe rice to escape the historic floods.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Seeing the raging floodwaters pouring into the fields, many people in Dong Tham, Tay Lo, and Ben Pha villages (Tien Luc commune, Bac Ninh province) urgently harvested their unripe rice to escape the historic flood.

From the afternoon of October 7th, due to the influence of the circulation of typhoon number 11 (typhoon Matmo) and the rising floodwaters of the Thuong River, many villages and hamlets along both sides of the river in Bac Ninh province were severely flooded.

According to statistics from the People's Committee of Tien Luc commune (Bac Ninh province), as of 4 PM on October 9th, more than 750 hectares of rice fields were flooded, and the local authorities are compiling further statistics in the coming days.

According to observations by Dan Tri reporters on the afternoon of October 9th, floodwaters continued to rise, inundating residential areas and rice fields that were almost ready for harvest, causing concern among many farmers.

That afternoon, upon discovering that floodwaters were overflowing the roads and rushing down into the fields of Dong Tham, Tay Lo, and other villages, the local authorities promptly mobilized harvesting machines and, together with the people, quickly harvested the rice with the motto "better to harvest while the rice is still green than to let it ripen in the field."

The raging floodwaters rushed in, rising rapidly and catching the people completely by surprise, causing them great anxiety for the rice fields that had not yet been harvested.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Chien, head of Dong Tham village, since the afternoon of October 7th, the local authorities have mobilized harvesting machines and urged people to harvest their rice early, but because the rice was still unripe, many families have not yet harvested it.

"This afternoon (October 9th), when we saw floodwaters overflowing the road and rushing into the fields, we had to quickly mobilize combine harvesters and villagers to harvest the rice. If we didn't harvest quickly, the fields would be flooded again in just 3-4 hours," Mr. Chien said.

Facing the risk of their rice fields being flooded at any moment, a large number of people in Tien Luc commune harvested their unripe rice to escape the rising water.

According to Mr. Hoang Van Tuan, Chief of the Office of the People's Committee of Tien Luc commune, as of 4 PM on October 9th, floodwaters had caused the collapse of two structures in the commune; killed 8,000 poultry and waterfowl; and submerged 870 hectares of rice, crops, and fruit trees. Over 70 hectares of aquaculture farms were completely flooded.

Many locals shared that the harvest was still about 10 days away, but due to the rapid rise of floodwaters, they had to harvest the rice prematurely.

The combine harvesters are working at full capacity to help people escape the floods.

"If the rice is submerged in floodwater for 1-2 days while it's ripening, it's a total loss. In previous years, to get a grain of rice, we had to face pests and diseases, but this year we have to face harsh weather and natural disasters," confided Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham (42 years old, residing in Dong Tham village, Tien Luc commune).

Tasks such as harvesting rice, bagging it, and transporting it home are all done very quickly to escape the flood.

Under the scorching sun, many people harvest through midday to finish harvesting their family's rice crop.

"My husband and I skipped lunch to harvest as quickly as possible; if we didn't hurry, everything would be submerged in floodwaters within 2-3 hours," shared Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luyen (57 years old, residing in Dong Tham village, Tien Luc commune).

Farmers wade through floodwaters, urgently harvesting rice in the submerged fields.

Crowds of people busily carried rice home, helped each other harvest rice, and so on.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chien walked along the roads around the village's rice fields to monitor the rice harvest.

"We'll harvest as soon as the water reaches here; we'll harvest the flooded areas first, and the drier ones later," Mr. Chien said.

At the cultural center of Ben Pha village (Tien Luc commune), soldiers from Battalion 14, Division 3, Military Region 1 participated in clearing rice to help the local people.

According to Mr. Hoang Van Tuan, Chief of the Office of the People's Committee of Tien Luc commune (Bac Ninh province), as of 4 PM on October 9th, 19 villages in the entire commune were flooded (out of 61 villages and hamlets in the commune), affecting approximately 8,000 people.

Local authorities have coordinated and assisted in transporting over 7,000 essential supplies (food, drinking water, medicine, etc.) to isolated areas, ensuring that people do not go hungry or without water while waiting for the floodwaters to recede and while temporary transportation routes are being restored.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/nong-dan-bac-ninh-tat-bat-gat-lua-non-chay-lu-lich-su-20251010005726379.htm