Tears and bracelets
According to the Ha Tinh Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Control and Search and Rescue, storm No. 5 killed 1 person, injured 4 others, blown off hundreds of houses, and swept away thousands of hectares of rice and crops. In Kim Hoa commune, a man died while climbing to repair a stormproof roof. In Mai Phu, Hoanh Son, the injured were taken to the health station by local people, despite the storm's strong winds.
The whole province was in darkness when 64/69 communes and wards had complete power outages. 110kV power lines broke, more than 3,500 transformer stations were paralyzed, nearly 453,000 customers were affected. In the midst of that scene, the police, military, and militia forces stayed up all night.
At 3:00 p.m. on August 25, acacia trees fell across the railway in Phu Lap village (Phuc Trach), 20 commune police officers caught a gas stove and fell into the wind and rain, only 20 minutes to clear the scene, allowing the train to pass safely. That same evening, Huong Khe commune police took the old man Pham Thi Xuan, who had a broken leg and suffered from many underlying diseases, in the rain and wind to the hospital in time.
In everyone's fate, the story of Ms. Nguyen Thi Toan (65 years old, Co Dam commune) makes many people fall into tears. She lived alone in a 2-room wooden house built by her husband 20 years ago. The storm caused her roof to sway heavily, with water canvas hanging on the ceiling. Her husband is deceased, her youngest child has just gone to work abroad, and her bank debt is still there, she silently stood crying because of helplessness.
The next day, the neighbors brought in some, some gave them a few corrugated iron sheets, some contributed to rebuilding the roof.
In many coastal communes such as Tien Dien, Co Dam, Loc Ha, a series of roofs were blown off and trees fell.
In Nghe An, the storm overflowed with strong winds gradually increasing. On the night of August 25, the entire Vinh City and many localities had no power. People live in darkness, only the sound of thunder and roofs occasional. In apartment buildings, hundreds of households have to go to the hallway to live. Ms. Dang Thanh Huong (Vinh Hung ward) said: "The glass doors suddenly broke, water flooded in, the mother and child were trembling at the same time. I couldn't sleep all night."
On the morning of August 26, the city appeared messy: Trees fell everywhere, corrugated iron roofs, and signs flew all over. Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital was severely damaged, a series of cars parked on the roadside were crushed by trees. Many people were shocked, but that morning, Mr. Le Van Hong, owner of Minh Hong Restaurant, opened the door to welcome rescue forces to eat free meals.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh (born in 1962) in Trung Loc commune, Nghe An, a poor household, after two days of evacuation, returned to see that the level 4 house that had just been supported by the State to be built at the end of last year had only four walls left.
The entire corrugated iron roof was blown away. The two of them died in an empty house. She sat on the floor crying. But then, when the villagers came to her for encouragement, the commune authorities immediately put her on the list of support to rebuild the house, she wiped away her tears and grumbled with the villagers and officials to clean up the rubble.
"I just hope to rebuild a smaller, more solid house to have a place to take shelter during the storm and wind season" - she said.
In the coastal area, the family of Mr. Nguyen The Quang (Hamlet 6, An Chau Commune, Nghe An) lost 3,000m2 of ponds with more than 25,000 shrimp seeds.The whole family tried to build a bank, but the water rose too quickly, the two lakes overflowed, and shrimp swept away.The pain of losing a business is shared when neighbors visit, contribute rice, and help the family withstand.
At sea, Cua Lo - Ben Thuy Border Guard Station stayed up all night. Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van The said: "We are on duty all night and in the morning, divided into many groups to suffer heavy damage to help the people. Everyone is done forgets, because they see the people as too hard".
The pain passes, humanity remains
In Quang Tri, the storm caused more than 2,100 hectares of rice to be flooded, 38 hectares of crops to be damaged, and 26 fish cages to be dissolved by waves. More than 5,100 people were evacuated promptly. But the most serious is the Hon La sea area, where dozens of fishermen have lost their jobs.
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Han (Dong Hung village) was stunned to see 30 cages - his life's capital - being destroyed by strong waves, causing damage of nearly 3 billion VND. Mr. Bui Anh Tuan (born in 1981) contributed capital to raise 25 rafts, investing 2 billion VND, just waiting for the harvest day. But overnight, all was scattered wood and torn nets. Fish, lobsters, oysters... float white on the water surface. Fishermen sat on the rock, their eyes red and helpless. But at that time, border guards and local militia came down to support the clearance and instruct on safer anchorage options. Some contributed, some brought instant noodles, all stood up together.
Storm No. 5 swept through, leaving behind terrible damage: Thousands of hectares of rice and crops were flooded; thousands of houses were damaged; hundreds of schools and medical facilities were devastated. But surpassing those cold numbers is the warmth of humanity.
Natural disasters and floods come unexpectedly, but humanity always stays. Thanks to humanity, the roofs have been built, schools welcome children, fields are revived, cages will stretch nets again. In the harsh Central region, humanity is the most solid shelter, never swept away. People in the Central region, thousands of generations overcoming hardship, still believe that "Don't complain about hardship, anyone/When the skin grows, the plants still thrive"...
