For the past ten days, at exactly 1:00 a.m., Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong (50 years old, Nguyen Phuc ward, Yen Bai city) has been moving from his house to the porch to collect each drop of domestic water into a bucket.
But every time, after opening the water valve, he had to close it again because not a drop of water came out.
Mr. Phong said that after storm number 3 passed, tap water began to flow weaker and then gradually dried up.
"In the past few days, my family has had to collect rainwater flowing down from the corrugated iron roof to use for cooking," said Mr. Phong.
Mr. Phong’s neighbor, Mrs. Vu Thi Dat (74 years old) also woke up before the rooster crowed. At 3am, she brought out buckets and basins from the house to wait for each drop of water to be pumped up weakly.
"The water level is very low, it takes an hour to fill a basin. A family of four, pumping since 3am only gets a few basins of water, so we have to calculate how to cook and bathe to save water," said Ms. Dat.
Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy (55 years old, Phuc Tho residential group, Nguyen Phuc ward) has to go to her neighbor's house every day to ask for buckets of water for daily use.
"My house is on a high place so the water pump cannot reach it. Every day, I have to carry nearly 10 buckets to have enough water for the whole family," said Ms. Thuy.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung - Secretary of the Party cell of Phuc Tho residential group, Nguyen Phuc ward, water loss is a common situation after the storm in the whole Yen Bai city.
"Currently, in Nguyen Phuc ward, 30% of households do not have water to use, and 70% have water but it is very weak, the water cannot be pushed up to the sluice. 90% of households in Nguyen Phuc ward are severely flooded, currently, people are trying to overcome the damage caused by storms and floods," Mr. Hung shared.
Not only Nguyen Phuc ward but also central wards of Yen Bai city such as Yen Thinh, Hong Ha, Minh Tan are also in a state of shortage of domestic water after floods.
Mr. Trieu Xuan Dung, an operator of Yen Bai Water Supply and Construction Joint Stock Company, said: Currently, the clean water supply plant for Yen Bai city and part of Yen Binh district is operating at full capacity.
The need for use at the same time makes many places, especially at the end of the source or high up, not have enough water for daily use.
According to Mr. Dung, to share clean water sources with households lacking clean water for daily use, households suffering damage caused by storms and floods, and people in areas not affected by flooding should use water reasonably.
According to the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue of Yen Bai, up to now, storms in the area have killed 50 people due to landslides, 3 people died due to floods, 1 person is missing and 42 people were injured.
In addition, 25,263 houses were flooded, landslides, and swept away by floods; 5,916 hectares of crops were damaged and affected; 28 schools were flooded, 37 schools were landslides.
In addition, many traffic projects under construction suffered landslides and some roads were severely damaged. Preliminary estimates put the damage at nearly VND5,000 billion.
