Residents recall how flash floods rushed over to their surprise.
Vo Van Tinh walks past a collapsed wall in Hiep Phuoc Town in Nhon Trach District Sunday night.
The wall at Hung Nghiep Formosa Co. Ltd in the Nhon Trach No.3 Industrial Park (IP) was 5 m tall and 30 m long.
On Sunday evening, the wall collapsed after the district received heavy rains and strong winds for around an hour. The moment the wall fell onto the ground, flash floods flow into a residential area in Hiep Phuoc Town as the IP lies on a hill.
Furniture and appliance scatter around inside Tinh's house.
His family also loses 100 chickens to the floods.
"This area has never suffered such flash floods before and none of us here has prepared for this situation. We were all caught off guard," said 60-year-old Tinh.
He added that so far Hiep Phuoc Town only suffered flooding when it rains heavily.
Truong Van Hoc, a neighbor of Tinh, stands in his house, which is completely destroyed by flash floods.
He said floodwaters appeared shortly after the heavy rains and that was normal.
However, flash floods came right after the wall collapsed and people had no time to save their assets.
Two motorbikes of Hoc’s family lie in the mud.
The authorities of Hiep Phuoc Town and representatives of Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Co. Ltd have visited the town and asked locals to keep everything untouched so that they could count the damage.
Trash left on a window of Hoc’s house.
“When the water rose, I was able to cling to a pillar while my wife and children climbed to the roof.”
A radio lies in the rubble after the flood hit Hoc's house. His whole family now stays at a neighbor's.
Nguyen Van Nghia shines a flashlight to clean up furniture in his messy house after the flash floods.
"I was in my house when I heard a loud bang and then the water rushed down like a waterfall, many belongings were washed away," he said.
Nghia's car was washed away by more than 100m, and collided with another neighbor's car parked on the porch.
As authorities estimated, the town has around 10 cars hit by the flooding.
Ho Thi My Lien, owner of a lottery ticket agent on Hung Vuong Street, cleans up a pile of scratched lottery tickets that have all got wet.
"When the floods arrived, my husband and I could have enough time to save one box of lottery tickets,” she said.
On early Monday morning, specialized vehicles are dispatched to Hiep Phuoc Town for special forces to help locals.
In addition to Hiep Phuoc Town, heavy rains and strong winds sent many places in Dong Nai and the province's neighbors, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Ho Chi Minh City, under water on Sunday evening.
According to the Southern Region Hydro-Meteorological Center, a low pressure trough along with the vortex in the middle of the East Sea have caused thunderstorms in many southern localities. The rainfall in the three localities on Sunday evening was measured at nearly 120 mm, highest since the monsoon season started a couple weeks ago.
It is forecasted that in the next three days, the south will continue to receive heavy rains and strong winds.
