Desolation of the village after the flood
Due to the impact of storm No. 2 causing rain from the night of July 23 to the morning of July 25, it caused serious damage to people and property in Chiềng Nơi commune.
According to statistics, the commune has 6 deaths, 8 houses completely collapsed and buried, 81 houses had to be urgently relocated, and the roads to 15 villages in the commune were severely eroded, causing traffic congestion.
Heavy rain also caused damage, flooding, and burying 107 hectares of various crops, toppling 16 low-voltage poles, sweeping away 3 suspension bridges, and damaging one overflow bridge.
In the early days of August, although the flood has passed, the pain and difficulties remain.
Staring blankly at the ruins, where once stood the home of his small family on the mountainside, now completely flattened, Vàng A Dếnh (Hua Pư village, Chiềng Nơi commune) couldn't hold back his tears.
Early morning on July 24, in just a moment, half the hill slid down, covering the entire house, burying his wife and children under the mud. Each body brought out from the rubble felt like a knife cutting into the heart of the poor man. More painfully, the body of Dếnh's young child was found nearly 2 days later.
Dếnh lamented: "Lost everything, nothing left, lost house, wife, and children!".
"After the flood, the village arranged for Dếnh to temporarily stay with relatives and encouraged and supported him to stabilize his life," said Vàng Chứ Sành, Party Secretary and Head of Hua Pư village.
Power outage, people have to light candles for meals
After the flood, Hà Văn Tươm's family (Nhụng Trên village, Chiềng Nơi commune) also lost their home and had to stay elsewhere.
Looking at the fields and gardens the whole family had painstakingly cultivated, now all flattened, Tươm couldn't hide his sadness: "Lost the house, lost the trees and fields too! We don't know what will happen in the coming days".
According to Tươm, the flood not only damaged houses but also broke the electric poles in Chiềng Nơi commune, causing a power outage in the entire Nhụng Trên village. For more than 10 days, people have had no electricity to use.
"Without electricity, in the evening people have to use motorcycle batteries for lighting, or light candles and torches for meals, all activities are affected. We hope the relevant agencies and the electricity sector will promptly restore the power transmission for the people" - Tươm said.
In an interview with reporters, Cầm Văn Trực - Chairman of the People's Committee of Chiềng Nơi commune said: "The recent flood has caused severe damage to Chiềng Nơi commune, nearly 10 days have passed but both the government and the people are still struggling, unable to stabilize life. All the crop areas have been swept away by the flood, currently, the people's food mainly depends on the support of charitable groups and benefactors".
According to the commune chairman, the most difficult issue for Chiềng Nơi commune is the road. Since the roads to 15 villages are mainly dirt roads, the flood has caused landslides, making many sections impassable even by motorcycle.
"What we most hope for is that the relevant units will support the clearance of roads to the villages to make it easier for students to go to school and to facilitate the people's trade of goods. The People's Committee of the commune also hopes that benefactors and philanthropists will support to help the people stabilize their lives soon" - Trực said.
Regarding the 139 households in Nhụng Trên village, Chiềng Nơi commune that have been without electricity for more than 10 days, a representative of Sơn La Electricity said, due to landslides blocking the roads, the truck carrying electric poles could not get in, leading to difficulties in fixing the problem and restoring power to the people.
Today (August 4), the unit has coordinated with Mai Sơn Electricity to mobilize the government and people to erect temporary bamboo poles to supply temporary electricity to the people.
According to the statistics of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue of Sơn La province, in July, the flood caused 11 deaths and 6 injuries; over 2,670 houses were damaged; 29 school points were affected; more than 4,143 hectares of summer rice were flooded and swept away; more than 548 hectares of crops and vegetables were flooded; over 500 livestock were killed and swept away; more than 12,290 poultry were swept away.
The estimated total damage is over 501 billion VND.
