The flood warning siren is placed at the Hue city administrative building. Photo: nhandan.vn

Warning sound

For the first time in 2025, at 6:00 p.m. on October 26, Hue City activated four sirens to signal major floods, helping people downstream to respond in time. And in just one month, up to four times - a record number, Hue people heard this scary siren. Called "scary", but in reality, the siren is extremely necessary for a locality like Hue, which is often "flooded every year" (Lyrics of the song "The Sound of the Perfume River" by musician Pham Dinh Chuong).

Installed at the city's administrative building, Hue Irrigation Works Management and Operation Company, Huong Tra, Quang Dien, the flood siren system is operated in two ways: One is automatically remotely via wifi network controlled by the Smart Urban Monitoring and Operation Center. Two is manually on-site when communication is lost. This is considered a smart solution to adapt to floods.

The siren reminded me of the historic flood that happened exactly 26 years ago. At that time, information about the flood had not been updated, so by the afternoon of November 1, 1999, the flood water had risen, and I still tried to finish my IT class. Then, at nearly 7 pm, on the way home to Thuy Phuong (Thanh Thuy ward), I was scared to feel the effects of the flood when the National Highway 1A water flowed rapidly, at times it seemed like it swept away my car and me. When I got home, the flood water had reached the yard... In the following days, the flood raged, there were power outages and no information, everyone mainly relied on their "brick" phones that quickly ran out of battery and could not be charged.

Cohabitation

I still think that November 13, 1995 was a strategic moment when, at an urgent meeting in Dong Thap after the historic flood in the Mekong Delta, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet said: "We can no longer fight floods like fighting an enemy. We must learn to live with floods." Then, in 2000, after directly directing the work of flood prevention and control in the Central region, especially in Hue, at the Conference summarizing flood prevention and control in the Mekong Delta ( Can Tho , August 2000), Prime Minister Phan Van Khai officially affirmed: "Our strategy from now on is to live with floods."

Over the past quarter of a century, the whole country in general and Hue in particular have made efforts to "live with floods". For example, in Hue, high-rise houses and public works (housing, medical stations, etc.) are becoming more and more popular. Construction programs for "Flood-proof houses" or "Communities living with floods" models are popular in low-lying areas. Systems of flood-proof works, such as dikes, embankments and reservoirs, have been built. Hue also focuses on building and reinforcing embankments, dykes, regulating lakes, and temporary flood reservoirs in the inner city; dredging, clearing and renewing the flood drainage system.

Towards long-term coexistence with storms and floods, Hue has transformed the economic structure of the frequently flooded areas, shifting from rice cultivation to aquaculture, eco-tourism, and mangrove forests; demolishing structures that block natural flows; and replanting upstream forests. In particular, the Hue urban center has been re-planned according to the principle of "living with floods"; new urban areas are developed to the south and west, in higher places.

Smart adaptation

Developments in 2025 show that floods and storms are becoming increasingly “fierce”, with greater frequency, intensity and scope of impact, causing serious damage. The concept of “living with floods” from the 1990s - 2000s is still valid, but is now being upgraded to “smart adaptation to floods”.

The Hue-S platform, developed and operated by the Smart City Monitoring and Operation Center, is a proof of this. This is a super app that integrates monitoring of river water levels, hydroelectric reservoirs, and online cameras. People can receive warnings via phone, monitor real-time flood situations, and even make emergency payments. By 2025, Hue-S will have become a digital ecosystem connection platform, helping to quickly coordinate between the government, the community, and rescue forces.

Hue has also integrated AI into natural disaster forecasting and warning, helping to increase accuracy compared to traditional methods. Or recently, the ZCRA (Zero Carbon Resilient Adaptation) project, in collaboration with ISET and Plan International, improved early flood warning in Hue using sensor technology and big data analysis software, focusing on vulnerable communities. It has improved forecasting capacity in heavily flooded communes, reducing response time.

“Smart adaptation to floods” in Hue is also understood in its oldest meaning, not only as a warning but also as an initiative in stockpiling food and medicine, practicing survival skills when storms and floods occur, the ability to mobilize forces to evacuate (choose suitable locations) and respond to rescue. In particular, “smart adaptation to floods” does not forget the ancients’ reminder of the consensus and joint efforts of the whole community: “Floods can submerge the whole village/If you want to avoid floods, I will take care of it together”.

Obviously, only when every citizen, every agency, every generation cares, works together, preserves the upstream forest, raises the house floor higher, opens the riverbed for water to flow, shares a warning message on Hue-S... can Hue truly adapt - not just live together, but live safely, live sustainably in the midst of unpredictable storms and floods. The siren will sound many more times. But as long as we care together like "thiep trai" in the past, then no matter how much the flood comes, the village will not be submerged.

DAN DUY

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/tieng-coi-hu-bao-con-lu-du-160626.html