Vietnam was hit by a typhoon last week. Mum wrote a really good letter to us about the impact and to let us know she was ok.
I think people don't often get the whole "my mother lives in vietnam" thing, maybe a picture (and a letter) paints a thousand words. So for a bit of a change....
************************
Hi there
In a particularly active year in the West Pacific the weather people have counted 25 typhoons so far this year. Many of them have hit the Phillipines and then veered north, but this week we had one come right across Quy Nhon.
We had been watching the progress of the storm on an internet site I have boookmarked, as it approached the coast and noted that it was forecast to upgrade from a "tropical Depression" to a Level 1 typhoon just before the eye reached the coast.
The high winds and squally showers started in the middle of the day on Monday 2nd Nov and increased steadily all day and through the night. I understand the eye of the storm passed through or near to Quy Nhon during the night and the high winds and heavy rain continued until the following morning decreasing only slowly during the day.
I was alerted to some of the damage when I fielded a phone call from an expat on a train at our Dieu Tri Station, late on Tuesday. She said the group of cyclists she was travelling with were on a train at Dieu Tri Station and had been stopped there since 5.30am - about 12 hours at that point - with no information about when or if they might be able to continue. There was very little information available from anywhere at that stage, though we knew the emergency rescue squads would be out assessing the situation as the day went on. The universal answer to enquiries I was making here was "we won't know anything until tomorrow morning". Most of our guests were resigned to waiting it out when we told them what we knew and were able to help them alter travel plans etc. By the evening I was greeting people with "so where are you not going to, today?"
By Wednesday morning the storm had moved inland, through neighbouring Phu Yen Province and expected to end up in Cambodia. Reports now revealed that there was a big landslide affecting both road and rail to the south of Quy Nhon in Phu Yen Province. And the two big rivers that water the Tuy Phuoc area adjacent and to the north and east of Quy Nhon, had both breached their banks with severe and large scale flooding.
The little stream that normally flows under the bridge on the the road from QN to Phu Tai junction had turned into a torrent that flooded Tran Hung Dau St from the area of the Twin Towers (Thap Doi) out, and prevented road access from the city to Route 1. Houses ibordering Tran hUng Daoa Street in that area were flooded to a height of more than a meter.
Our Dieu Tri train station was completely surrounded by flood waters and not accessible by road at all. All the villages in the flood plane of the Tuy Phuoc rivers were underwater and we saw on TV survivors being rescued from rooves of houses, with small children having to slide down into the arms of rescuers waiting in a boat below.
In the afternoon we were able to confirm that access to the south from Quy Nhon was blocked by a large landslide in the next Province to the south (Phu Yen), affecting both road and rail routes.
We saw a couple of helicopters overhead circling overhead, assessing the damage in the surrounding area and by the evening we saw the first scenes on the local TV of survivors being rescued by boat: a woman wading to the rescue boat through flood waters up to her chin, whole families perched on the highset point of their roof, with the waters lapping at their feet. They would have been there for a couple of days by that point.
On Wednesday as the waters receded the first train left for the north in 2 days and some buses were starting to move. However, the rail route to the south remains blocked and is not expected to be cleared today (Thursday) The railways are offering a road service down to Tuy Hoa and connection to one train a day from there.
Reports are still coming in as to the extent of damage in rural areas and it is expected that there will have been a significant loss of life. One causalty that has affected us directly is the father of one of our staff who go up on to the roof to repair leaks after the storm had passed, apparently slipped and split his head open on the concrete path. Very sad, a lovely man who was the chief care giver for his under school age grand children, allowing their mothers to work without worrying about them.
regards
Barbara
In a particularly active year in the West Pacific the weather people have counted 25 typhoons so far this year. Many of them have hit the Phillipines and then veered north, but this week we had one come right across Quy Nhon.
We had been watching the progress of the storm on an internet site I have boookmarked, as it approached the coast and noted that it was forecast to upgrade from a "tropical Depression" to a Level 1 typhoon just before the eye reached the coast.
The high winds and squally showers started in the middle of the day on Monday 2nd Nov and increased steadily all day and through the night. I understand the eye of the storm passed through or near to Quy Nhon during the night and the high winds and heavy rain continued until the following morning decreasing only slowly during the day.
I was alerted to some of the damage when I fielded a phone call from an expat on a train at our Dieu Tri Station, late on Tuesday. She said the group of cyclists she was travelling with were on a train at Dieu Tri Station and had been stopped there since 5.30am - about 12 hours at that point - with no information about when or if they might be able to continue. There was very little information available from anywhere at that stage, though we knew the emergency rescue squads would be out assessing the situation as the day went on. The universal answer to enquiries I was making here was "we won't know anything until tomorrow morning". Most of our guests were resigned to waiting it out when we told them what we knew and were able to help them alter travel plans etc. By the evening I was greeting people with "so where are you not going to, today?"
By Wednesday morning the storm had moved inland, through neighbouring Phu Yen Province and expected to end up in Cambodia. Reports now revealed that there was a big landslide affecting both road and rail to the south of Quy Nhon in Phu Yen Province. And the two big rivers that water the Tuy Phuoc area adjacent and to the north and east of Quy Nhon, had both breached their banks with severe and large scale flooding.
The little stream that normally flows under the bridge on the the road from QN to Phu Tai junction had turned into a torrent that flooded Tran Hung Dau St from the area of the Twin Towers (Thap Doi) out, and prevented road access from the city to Route 1. Houses ibordering Tran hUng Daoa Street in that area were flooded to a height of more than a meter.
Our Dieu Tri train station was completely surrounded by flood waters and not accessible by road at all. All the villages in the flood plane of the Tuy Phuoc rivers were underwater and we saw on TV survivors being rescued from rooves of houses, with small children having to slide down into the arms of rescuers waiting in a boat below.
In the afternoon we were able to confirm that access to the south from Quy Nhon was blocked by a large landslide in the next Province to the south (Phu Yen), affecting both road and rail routes.
We saw a couple of helicopters overhead circling overhead, assessing the damage in the surrounding area and by the evening we saw the first scenes on the local TV of survivors being rescued by boat: a woman wading to the rescue boat through flood waters up to her chin, whole families perched on the highset point of their roof, with the waters lapping at their feet. They would have been there for a couple of days by that point.
On Wednesday as the waters receded the first train left for the north in 2 days and some buses were starting to move. However, the rail route to the south remains blocked and is not expected to be cleared today (Thursday) The railways are offering a road service down to Tuy Hoa and connection to one train a day from there.
Reports are still coming in as to the extent of damage in rural areas and it is expected that there will have been a significant loss of life. One causalty that has affected us directly is the father of one of our staff who go up on to the roof to repair leaks after the storm had passed, apparently slipped and split his head open on the concrete path. Very sad, a lovely man who was the chief care giver for his under school age grand children, allowing their mothers to work without worrying about them.
regards
Barbara
*********************
Hi Ras
ReplyDeleteI'd be very happy if you posted it on your blog.
Quick update on things here, now the sun is shining, but many families have lost their homes and all their possessions, not to menion their income from their crops this year.
The local TV and paper have published some heart-rending photos: families wading through neck high water with little kids clinging on their shoulders, families being rescued by boat from rooftops after two nights perched on the ridge; the toddlers being slid down to the rescue boat and caught by the rescuers while the rest of the family pick their way down the edge of the roof.
The death toll is now over 100, though only about 20% of that in this area I think. The eye of the storm hit land in the province to the south of us here and the worst damage is down there including a couple of big landslides. Many road bridges have been snapped and the trains could not get through until yesterday, with apparently a high number of problems with the tracks.
The people I deal with here in the administration have been flat out all week, with food and shelter being delivered to those who need it. I have to say that the support services are very well organised and they even had helicopters out this time, spotting people who were stranded by the water, so the boats could find and rescue them as well as delivering food and medicine to areas that were cut off.
And that was just a little Level 1 (out of 5) typhoon :-)
love and hugs
B