Van Nham (Lang Son) suffered heavy damage after 3 days of severe flooding.

People were caught off guard, their properties and crops were submerged by the floodwaters. More than 3 days have passed but the water has not receded, making daily life and travel extremely difficult.

Historic floods

Photo caption — Van Nham commune, Lang Son province, was heavily flooded due to the circulation of storm No. 11. Photo: VNA

Hearing that Thien Tan, Yen Binh, Huu Lung, Van Nham communes... were deeply flooded, many people were waiting for the water to recede every hour so they could return home, we could not sit still and tried every way to get to the flooded area. At this time, the road to Van Nham commune was very difficult. Running along National Highway 1A for about 50km, we encountered a point of water nearly 1m deep, only specialized wading vehicles, container trucks, large trucks with high chassis could inch their way through this half-kilometer distance. Other vehicles had to wait, or change to another route.

Hitchhiking on a truck carrying relief goods, we had to go back and forth many times in Huu Lung commune, trying to find a way to get through a small road in a residential area to get past the flooded road to continue our journey. The drivers informed that currently the roads leading to Van Nham commune, especially the "main artery" Provincial Road 242 into the commune, were flooded with a meter of water, paralyzed since October 7. From National Highway 1A, we went around a small hill road that could only fit one car, the road was bumpy and winding, so it took us nearly an hour to reach the Van Nham commune police headquarters, the relief goods gathering point in the area, only about 10km away.

Leaving our belongings here, we followed the police car to the most flooded area. Provincial Road 242 had now turned into a “river”, the water was white. Getting on the inflatable boat with the rescue team, what appeared before our eyes was a truly heartbreaking scene. On both sides of the road, the level four houses were submerged almost to the roof, while the high-rise buildings were submerged almost to the first floor. Many people, when seeing the rescue team passing by, climbed onto their roofs and waded out into the road to ask for supplies. The vegetable gardens and rice fields of the people on the roadside were completely submerged. The only means of transportation between the flooded villages were small boats.

Drifting on a boat for nearly 2km to Dong Khu village, in some sections the water was almost touching the electric wires, making it difficult to distinguish between roads, ponds, fields and gardens. Ms. Ngoc Thi Sao, 75 years old, living in Dong Khu village, Van Nham commune, said this was the first time she had witnessed such a historic flood.

“The house was flooded more than 2 meters deep. The water rose so quickly that all of her belongings were underwater, she only had time to grab a few essential items. The authorities helped the couple stay at a relative's house. The whole village of more than 130 households, about 400 people, most of their houses were flooded and fell into the same situation, had to evacuate their homes, only more than 10 houses on the high mound were not flooded. This is also the place where many families whose houses were flooded came to stay," Ms. Sao said with a choked voice.

After more than 3 days of struggling with flood water, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Ben Cat village, was quite tired. Looking at the flooded fields near his house, Mr. Nam was sad, 8 sao of rice that were about to be harvested and had been submerged in water for several days were definitely lost. Many valuable assets of the family such as motorbikes, equipment, and utensils were also submerged in flood water...

Heavy damage

Sharing with VNA reporters while working with local authorities to rescue people, Chairman of the People's Committee of Van Nham Commune Vy Thuy Thanh said that the commune has a natural area of over 81 km2 with 30 villages, over 4,300 households and over 19,490 people. On October 7, the water level began to rise quite rapidly and quickly flooded households along the Trung River. By October 8, the floodwaters had deeply flooded 14 villages, isolating and cutting off; in which some villages along the river were very difficult to access because of the strong currents, and had to rely on large boats from the provincial armed forces to enter.

Currently, the entire commune is focusing on supporting and rescuing people, and property damage has not yet been calculated. However, with the current situation of deep flooding and slow water drainage, the damage in these 14 flooded villages will be very severe because many people's properties are submerged in water. Infrastructure and traffic will certainly be greatly affected. The commune People's Committee headquarters and some schools are also flooded. Many areas have no phone signal, no internet, especially flooding, isolation and widespread power outages, making all work extremely difficult.

However, with the spirit of not letting anyone go hungry or cold, the local government and functional forces of the whole commune have been on duty regularly to promptly handle any natural disaster situations that arise and support the people. In the immediate future, while the water has not receded, in flooded villages, especially in deeply flooded areas, any family that has no spare food, cannot cook rice, or has run out of drinking water will be brought to them by rescue boats. After the water recedes, the forces will help people clean their houses and the environment to prevent post-flood epidemics.

According to VNA reporters, in Van Nham commune, many households in flooded areas can only temporarily rely on relief food. By the morning of October 10, the water had receded by about 50cm, but Provincial Road 242 was still impassable, with many sections still submerged under nearly 1m of water. Many areas and houses were still submerged under a meter of water. Students could not return to school.

In the past few days, although the road to the commune has been very difficult, relief trucks from all over the province, day and night, are still carrying essential goods to the people in the flooded areas. A new day has begun, the sun has risen, the Party Committee, local authorities, military forces, militia, commune police and mass organizations, philanthropists everywhere continue to head to the flooded areas. Meanwhile, the people here are waiting for the water to recede quickly so they can return home to rebuild their lives.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/van-nham-lang-son-thiet-hai-nang-ne-sau-3-ngay-lu-du-20251010085753341.htm