Hoi An cleans up muddy aftermath of severe flooding

Workers remove garbage from the canal near the iconic Bridge Pagoda after flood waters have subsided.
Severe flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rains in the central region have left at least 29 people dead and 12 others missing. The entire region was battered by torrential downpours since last Tuesday after a cold spell came in contact with tropical turbulence. The turbulence intensified into a tropical depression and then into Storm Linfa, which made landfall Sunday over the provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Nam, the latter home to Hoi An.
Nguyen Quoc Tien, CEO of Hoi An Public Works Joint Stock Company, said it has deployed 200 employees for the cleanup. "It might take up to three days to remove around 400 tons of wet mud and dirt as well as trash out of the town," he said.

Cong Nu Ngoc Hoa Street by the Hoai River is covered by a layer of mud that is almost 20 centimeters thick.

A family cleans the front door of their house on the corner of Le Loi and Nguyen Thai Hoc streets.

The owner of a store on Bach Dang Street pushes out mud that has gathered 5 cm think on the floor.
"Hoi An people are used to floods, and our practice is to begin cleaning up as soon as the waters begin to recede. If we wait until the mud becomes dry the cleaning up would become very difficult," she said.

Various items like bottles and shoes washed away from elsewhere are left behind in the mud as the waters ebb.

The muddy interior of a store selling souvenirs on Bach Dang Street.

Workers have a lot of cleaning up to do as trash gets mingled with the mud at Hoi An’s wet market.

A worker tries to pull out a bag of garbage buried in the mud.

High-pressure water hoses are used to clean the An Hoi Bridge crossing the Hoai River.

Hoi An is limping back to normalcy after suffering five days of severe flooding.
The town was still receiving some rainfall on Tuesday, but a 100 meters section on Bach Dang Street alongside the Hoai River is the only area that is still flooded. It is submerged under 10-20 centimeters of water.

Workers pump water from the Hoai River to hose down Bach Dang Street.

A family on Bach Dang Street has set up two water pumps to use flood waters to clean up the mud inside their house.