VietNamNet Bridge - Floods in cities in the Central Highlands are unusual occurrences. Local residents in Buon Ma Thuot City in Dak Lak province and Da Lat City in Lam Dong had to battle flash floods in early November.

Pham Hai opened the door to his house in Ward 2, Da Lat City. A stream is located behind his house called Phan Dinh Phung, which runs across many different wards. 

Hai said there was a large land area adjacent to the stream where he grew vegetables for daily meals. However, the land area has disappeared, because the spring’s water has risen suddenly this rainy season, swallowing his vegetable garden.

In previous years, the spring’s water level was just 40 cm. The water there was waste water from residential quarters nearby. However, things have been different in recent years. If it rains heavily for 30 minutes, the water level will rise very rapidly. If it rains for one hour or longer, the water will flow through the stream to residential quarters.

After Nguyen Thi Duyen Anh and Do Manh Cuong were washed away during the garden cleaning in the area next to the Phan Dinh Phung stream, Hai and the other hundreds of local families realized the danger. They decided to install steel fences and brick-build walls to prevent water from entering the area.

Just one month later, Da Lat Residents once again were stunned by the death of parish priest Tran Van Dinh. He was washed away by floods.

On June 1, Dang Thi Thanh Hang and her two children escaped death by an inch when a young man saved them from the swift flowing stream.

Heavy rains damaged hundreds of hectares of crops, glass houses and residential quarters, causing damages worth tens of billions of dong.

“I cannot understand why our city is also attacked by floods, which never happened in the past,” said Nguyen Thao My on Hai Ba Trung street, Da Lat City.

Buon Ma Thuot City’s people also said their city would be inundated if it rains. Though the rains in early November were not heavy, floods still occurred on many streets and upset local people’s lives.

A local woman said after the heavy rain on October 1, the streets of Nguyen Tat Thanh, Le Duan, Y Nue and Nguyen Du ‘turned into a sea’. The Le Duan street, the busiest traffic route in Buon Ma Thuot City, was flooded 30 centimeters. Two were killed in floods there in the last year.

Tran Thi Nhung in Ea Tam Ward said it was dangerous to go under the rain. “The stretch of road is one kilometer but the water somehow could not enter the stream and it caused floods.

NLD