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At 7:00 a.m. on Oct. 24, Minh Ngoc put on his wedding suit, held a bunch of flowers in his hand, and waded through 400 meters of the flooded alley on Nguyen Cong Phuong Street in Quang Ngai Town, where a car was waiting to take him and his family to the bride’s house. With their pants rolled up, their thighs were still drenched.
About three kilometers away, the bride, Khanh Vy, had already dressed up.
"The water level is getting higher and higher, without receding," sighed Thanh Thao, 46, the bride's mother.
Thirty minutes later, 14 members of the groom's family arrived at the bride's house, also located in a flooded alley.
Procedures in a traditional wedding ceremony were held, before Vy bid goodbye to her family and left for her husband's house at 9 a.m. On a normal day, it takes 10 minutes to go from the bride's house to the groom's, but now it took more than 30 minutes due to a detour to avoid flooded areas across town.
"When it's flooded, I'll carry you," Ngoc told his wife. Later he borrowed a basket boat, telling his wife to get in before wading back down the flooded alley.
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Ngoc and Vy on their wedding day. Photo courtesy of Ngoc |
"It's strange that in the middle of Quang Ngai Town, he can pick up his bride with a basket boat," said KyLu Nguyen, who took photos for the couple on their wedding day.
As a photographer, he is no stranger to weddings with basket boats in suburban communes and districts, but this is the first time he has witnessed prolonged floods in town, forcing people to travel by boat.
"It's been hard, but it's a memorable experience," he said.
Ngoc and Vy were happy and excited to hold their wedding amid a flood. "The weather did not affect our happy day," Ngoc said.
Ngoc and Vy had been in love for a while before deciding to organize their engagement ceremony and wedding on Oct. 24, when Covid-19 restrictions in Quang Ngai eased. But the central province experienced prolonged and heavy rain one day before their important day, with rainfall of up to 300 millimeters and widespread flooding.
According to Nham Xuan Sy, director of Quang Ngai Provincial Hydro-Meteorological Station, from the evening of Oct. 22 to the night of Oct. 23, rainfall in Quang Ngai Town reached 532 millimeters, higher than the 2009 record of 525 millimeters. Quang Ngai had to evacuate 2,500 people living in flooded areas.
"If the water does not recede, the wedding has to be delayed," Ngoc and Vy’s families thought. But tables were booked, invitations sent, so it was next to impossible to postpone.
One night before the wedding, the couple and their families could not sleep, worrying the heavy rain and rising water would affect the ceremony.
"As long as the children are happy, the rain and floods are nothing," said Vy's mother.
The video of Ngoc and Vy's wedding with a basket boat received nearly two million likes and hundreds of thousands of shares within a day. Many netizens sent their blessings to the young couple.
"The wedding is so impressive, welcoming the bride by a basket boat is really creative amid the flood. The bride and groom will never forget this day. Wishing you both happiness," a user named Ky Duyen commented.
Vy travels through the flooded alley by a basket boat. Video courtesy of Ngoc
