A night of anxiety in the heart of the flood-stricken Ky Son.

Evacuation, searching for livestock… during the night.

At over 8 PM on October 3rd, in the heavy night rain, we walked back from Muong Xen town.Hoa Son villageElectricity was still out, the road to the village was pitch black, the water was still flowing strongly and starting to rise a little higher than during the day. On the way in, we encountered some villagers hurrying out, carrying their belongings.

Teachers residing in Hoa Son village, Ta Ca commune, moved their belongings to escape the flood during the night. Photo: Thanh Cuong.

Stopping by a row of rented rooms along the road, I saw people busily helping each other evacuate their belongings. In the last room in the row, Ms. Phan Thi Nhung said she was from Hung Nguyen district, a teacher at Huoi Tu Secondary School, and had been renting a room here for several years with her two daughters. Her husband, also a teacher, works in Thanh Chuong district and immediately rushed to Ky Son to be with his wife and children after the flood. Fortunately, their rented room was only flooded and not buried in mud. On the evening of October 2nd, after colleagues helped them move all their belongings, the whole family went to sleep at the house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung, a teacher at Ta Ca Secondary School in Muong Xen town.

Colleagues help Ms. Phan Thi Nhung, a teacher at Huoi Tu Secondary School, move her belongings out of her rented room. Photo: Thanh Cuong.

On the afternoon of October 3rd, after seeing the water recede and thinking it was safe, Nhung's family moved some essential belongings back to their rented room to sleep, but the water rose again, flooding the room up to ankle level. So, that night, the whole family once again moved their belongings to sleep elsewhere. “This rented house has 12 rooms, mostly occupied by teachers and civil servants from the lowlands who come here to work. Since the evening of October 2nd, everyone has been sleeping at friends' or colleagues' houses. A few families returned today like mine, but they had to evacuate again,” Nhung said, her face showing signs of exhaustion.

On the second night after the historic flash flood in the early morning of October 2nd, with a still shaken expression, Mr. Kha Van Lom from Hoa Son village, Ta Ca commune, said that in his half-century of life, he had never seen such a terrifying flood.

Mr. Kha Van Lom carries a flashlight while searching for his pig. Photo: Thanh Cuong.

Mr. Lom said that his family raised 10 pigs, nearly 40 chickens, and more than 10 ducks, but all of them, along with 4 pigs and all the equipment and machinery in the house, were swept away by the floodwaters. The entire lower section of his stilt house was buried under mud and rocks, and the upper floor was also covered in mud. His family took some remaining clothes and belongings to stay at his older brother's house, Mr. Kha Van Chau. The remaining 6 pigs had nowhere to be kept, so he had to let them roam freely in the village. At night, he had to use a flashlight to search for them and herd them back. When we met Mr. Lom, it was past 9 pm, and he was herding one of the pigs back. "I've only found one so far; there are 5 more to find. I won't go to sleep until I've found them all," Mr. Lom said.

Not only have many families lost their homes due to landslides and had to stay with relatives and friends, but they are also facing the prospect of being separated. For example, the family of Ms. Ngan Thi Bien, consisting of eight people, is currently residing in three different places.

Ms. Bien recounted that at 3:00 AM on October 2nd, hearing the sound of rushing water and rolling rocks, she sensed danger and quickly woke her family to run up the hill without having time to take any belongings.

It was raining heavily. Standing on the hill, looking down, she saw the raging floodwaters flowing down from Son Ha village. While she was trembling with fear, her husband tried to wade through the floodwaters to get clothes back home. Unfortunately, he slipped and was swept away by the current. Her son, seeing this, panicked and jumped into the water to pull his father out. The two struggled in the swirling floodwaters. Luckily, some young men from the village standing on the bank grabbed their collars and together pulled them to safety.

After her husband and children escaped death and the floodwaters receded, Mrs. Bien returned home to find all her possessions swept away, and her house was covered in a thick layer of mud. With nowhere else to live, she and her husband took refuge at a relative's house, her eldest son and his wife stayed with a neighbor, and her youngest son and his wife stayed with an acquaintance in the village.

A family in Hoa Son village chats with a reporter on the evening of October 3rd. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Servings of sticky rice filled with kindness

Also on the evening of October 3rd, visiting a house in Hoa Son village, we saw people gathered around washing sticky rice to prepare for cooking sticky rice. The homeowner, Mr. Vi Van Hung, said that he and his wife are both teachers. He teaches at Tay Son Ethnic Boarding Primary School, while his wife, Ms. Vi Thi Hien, is a teacher at Ta Ca Kindergarten. The flood on the morning of October 2nd swept away their entire orchard, fish pond, one pig, and 30 chickens; fortunately, their house was safe and not flooded.

Many villagers in Hoa Son hamlet gathered at the house of Mr. Vi Van Hung to prepare for cooking sticky rice for charity. Photo: Thanh Cuong

“In Hoa Son village, out of 236 households, more than half had their houses and property swept away by the flood. Compared to many families in the village, the losses my family suffered are nothing. Therefore, on the morning of October 2nd, my sister, Vi Thi Hien – who trades agricultural products from Laos – and I brought sticky rice and vermicelli from our warehouse to support the villagers.”

"For some households that live far away or are busy cleaning up and evacuating, my wife and I deliver the supplies directly to their homes. In addition, through the village management board, we encouraged families who were unaffected or only slightly damaged to come to our house to help cook sticky rice and distribute it to the villagers. The glutinous rice used for cooking the sticky rice came not only from our family's storage but also from contributions from several charitable organizations and individuals," Mr. Hung shared.

Glutinous rice is washed in advance to be steamed into sticky rice at 4 am the next morning. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Standing with her daughter-in-law in the yard of Mr. Vi Van Hung's house to receive sticky rice, with tears welling up in her eyes, Mrs. Ngan Thi Bien said that what happened during the recent flood was "unimaginable." "However, thanks to the help of the village management board, some charitable organizations, and especially families in the village like Mr. Hung and Mrs. Hien, our family was able to overcome the initial difficulties regarding food and shelter. Our family is very grateful!" Mrs. Ngan confided.