Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

By Nguyen Hai   October 3, 2022 | 01:51 am PT
Residents of mountainous Ky Son District in Nghe An Province have begun retrieving their belongings after their homes were submerged in mud following flash floods.
Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

A group of men in Ta Ca Commune of Ky Son remove a trunk section of a large tree broken during the flash flooding of a house on Monday.

Heavy rains triggered by the aftermath of Storm Noru had caused floods in central Nghe An Province since last Thursday before flash floods attacked Ky Son District on Sunday.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

A corner of Ta Ca Commune on the morning of Monday when the rains finally stopped.

Vi Nhu Cuong, a commune official, said flash floods hit the commune in different waves on Sunday, and that the strongest one appeared at 2 p.m.

At some point the "floods came so quick that one could not imagine, raising the water level by more than one minute within just 10 minutes," he said.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

Lu Van Tuan in Ta Ca Commune collects his family’s belongings from under the mud.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

A woman and her daughter remove mud from cooking utensils at a stream near their home.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

Lo Van Son stands at what used to be his house in Ta Ca Commune.

"I've lost everything," he said.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

Tam in Hoa Son Commune of Ky Son District cries as she holds a stack of books and notebooks of her grandchild, a 6th grader.

She said many valuable assets in the house including the television, gas stove and electric fans have been swept away.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

Three men dig out a five-seat car buried in thick mud in Muong Xen Town, which was hit by flash floods around 7 a.m. Sunday.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

People try to get a motorbike out of the mud.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

Mud covers an ATM in Muong Xen Town.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

On Monday, the floods have yet to recede, with authorities having established a makeshift bridge to cross a stream and deliver food and essential supplies to Son Ha Village in Ta Ca Commune.

In Ky Son alone, flash floods have swept away 56 houses, flooded and damaged 186 others, isolated 236 families, with 966 members.

Cleanup starts after houses buried by flash floods, mud

Debris fill up the entrance to a building for training Party members in Ky Son District placed in Muong Xen Town.

A series of other government buildings, including the offices of the People's Committee and Party's Committee, have been damaged.

Eight people including a four-month-old infant have died and more than 17,400 houses flooded in Nghe An as side effects of Storm Noru, one of the strongest storms to hit Vietnam in the past two decades as it slammed the central region with winds of 133 kph.

Though rains have stopped, floods still ravage Ta Ca Commune.
 
 
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