Two days after the flash flood on the night of July 26 and early morning of July 27, the highland communes of Son La province such as Song Ma, Sop Cop, Huoi Mot, Chieng So, Muong Lam, Chieng La, Muong Khieng, Bo Sinh, Nam Ty... are still littered with mud, broken trees, and landslides.
In Chieng So commune, the most severely affected area, the flood passed, leaving half a meter of mud covering the road from the house. Dozens of hectares of crops were buried... all hours are ruins.
Not only did the material loss occur, the flood also took the lives of many people. To date, the locality has recorded 4 deaths, 2 missing people, and dozens of households are still being evacuated.
The pain is still in the eyes of Ms. Lo Thi Not, residing in Na Can 2 village, Chieng So commune, whose husband, Mr. Ca Van Mai, was swept away by floodwaters and whose body was just found this morning.
"The flood came so quickly and suddenly, at night, people could only scream and run to the high ground, when they returned, they could not see their husbands. It was not until this morning (July 28) that the authorities found my husband's body" - Ms. Not said chokingly.
Mr. Lo Van Yem, Party Cell Secretary, Head of me Bon Village, Song Ma Commune, is still shocked by the devastation caused by the historic flash flood.
Mr. Yem recounted that on the night of July 26, seeing heavy rain, he and the Village Management Board quickly notified the households in the village to evacuate people and property to safe places...
"However, many families still cannot evacuate their assets, and when the flood came, they could only flee to safe places" - Mr. Yen said.
The entire power system and internet network in Chieng So and many neighboring communes were paralyzed due to 60 damaged transformer stations. More than 5,600 households were out of contact. The roads to the village are cut off by landslides, broken suspension bridges, and motor vehicles cannot access them.
As of the afternoon of July 28, the whole province of Son La has recorded more than 110 hectares of buried rice damage, hundreds of cattle and poultry were swept away, and many areas of crops and fish ponds were destroyed. The total damage is estimated at hundreds of billions of VND.
Amid the devastation caused by the consequences of the flood, on July 28, the police, military, militia forces... are urgently rebuilding tents, clearing rocks and soil, searching for missing people and supporting people to overcome the consequences.
The floodwaters passed, leaving behind chaos and pain, some families were left empty-handed, some families lost loved ones. People in Song Ma, Sop Cop, Huoi Mot, Muong Lam, Chieng La, Muong Khieng, Bo Sinh, Nam Ty communes and especially Chieng So commune... of Son La province are in dire need of the community's help to quickly stabilize their lives.
