Due to the lingering circulation of Typhoon Matmo, Bac Ninh, two hours from Hanoi, had experienced days of heavy rain.
By the evening of Oct. 8, water levels at the Dap Cau station reached 6.99 m, surpassing the third alarm level by 0.69 m. The floodwaters came within just over 10 cm of overtopping the Dau Han secondary dyke in Kinh Bac Ward, with water already spilling over at several points.
Fearing that floodwaters could breach the dyke and inundate nearby villages, from the afternoon of Oct. 8, hundreds of residents and officials began piling up sandbags to build barriers.
Sand was trucked in from a site about 8 km away using 7-ton vehicles and dumped along the most vulnerable sections of the dyke.
Regardless of age or gender, nearly all residents living inside the secondary dyke area joined in, taking turns to reinforce it. Some held bags, some shoveled sand, all working urgently.
Vu Hai Yen, who lives in Vu Ninh Ward about 3 km away, came to help tie sandbags. “I saw online that police, soldiers, and locals were reinforcing the dyke, so I wanted to contribute a little strength to fight the floods,” she said.
Elsewhere, Nguyen Thi Sen from Kinh Bac Ward used a loudspeaker to encourage everyone and remind them to neatly stack sandbags along the roadside to leave room for pedestrians. She said the work began at 2 p.m. on Oct. 8, and by nightfall, about 1 km of dyke had been reinforced.
Last year, after Typhoon Yagi, she and other residents worked together to reinforce over 3 km.
The sandbags, each weighing more than 20 kg, were securely tied and stacked in order. Like other secondary dykes, the Dau Han dyke serves as the first line of defense against floodwaters, reducing pressure on the main dyke and protecting residential and farming areas inside.
Dau Han neighborhood in Kinh Bac Ward has about 400 households with nearly 2,000 residents. The Dau Han secondary dyke stretches about 4 km.
Strong men carried sandbags and stacked them in layers. Everyone constantly reminded each other not to drag the bags along the ground to avoid tearing them, which could allow water to leak through.
The makeshift “walls” of sandbags, about half a meter high, blocked seepage, with tarpaulin laid on the river side for reinforcement.
Residents took turns using flashlights to check the Cau River’s water level. As the water rose, the sandbags were stacked higher, always kept 30–40 cm above the water surface.
According to Bac Ninh’s Department of Agriculture and Environment, the left bank dyke of the Thuong River had suffered slope erosion on the river side, while the right bank dyke was overtopped in three sections with a combined length of 850 m. The Tan Lieu secondary dyke had an 80-m-long slope slide on the inland side, cutting 1–2 m deep into the embankment.
Bac Ninh residents worked through the night to hold back the floodwaters. Video by Huy Manh, Lam Nguyen
