Fleeing flood in the center of Hanoi, people light candles, build sandbags, and bail out water.

River water flows through the drainage pipes, turning the entire basin of lane 823 Hong Ha - where 5 alleys intersect - into a sea of ​​water.

The deepest flood point was about 1 meter deep, extending about 400 meters, pushing water back up the slope from Hong Ha, flooding the houses on both sides.

The local authorities have cut off the power to ensure safety.

People move vehicles and property out of a flooded alley (Photo: Hoang Hong).

Ms. Van's family rented a 4-story house in this alley. Coming home from work at 6:30 p.m., Ms. Van couldn't believe her eyes when the entire alley had turned into a river.

Luckily, Ms. Van’s house was located high in the alley so the water had not yet flooded the house. She quickly packed up her belongings and moved them upstairs, raised the refrigerator and prepared to evacuate her children.

"The Red River may rise further tonight. The house will definitely be flooded on the first floor.

Although I am still safe on the upper floors, there is no electricity, making daily activities very inconvenient. My children still go to school as usual. So I decided to temporarily rent a motel outside. If I hesitate, I might have to wade through water up to my waist to escape tonight," Ms. Van shared.

Households at the alley entrance reinforced their houses instead of evacuating (Photo: My Ha).

Like Ms. Van, many tenants in the alley chose to evacuate and wait for the water to recede. At nearly 8 p.m., in the deep alleys, adults and children were still carrying plastic bags to pack some clothes, books, and important belongings to evacuate.

A woman walking in the opposite direction urged people to get out, saying, "This alley floods very quickly and takes a long time to recede. 10 years ago, the water took several days to recede."

However, long-time residents chose to stay and reinforce their houses. Houses along both sides of the alley piled up sandbags, plastic sheets and wooden boards to limit water from entering their homes.

Ms. Vu Thi Thanh, owner of house number 8, said that this afternoon, around 1:00 p.m., the river water seemed to come up from underground and kept rising.

At first, the water only flooded the alley, but after a heavy rain late this afternoon, within about half an hour, the water flooded the first floor.

Ms. Vu Thi Thanh's house is cleaning up and putting some furniture up on the first floor (Photo: My Ha).

"My house was empty, my children and I called each other to raise the refrigerator and wardrobe. In just about 30 minutes, about 30cm of water flooded into my house, I don't know what will happen tonight," said Ms. Thanh.

Right next door, house number 10 is also in a state of "flood escape". Despite using plastic and wooden bars to block the door, the water still rose into the house very quickly. Since early evening, the whole family has been busy cleaning up and hanging things up high to avoid the flood.

While wading through the floodwaters, Ms. Thu Ha said that her house was not flooded yet, but the floodwaters were rising all around her, making her worried that she would be submerged so deeply that she would not be able to escape.

"We put some things on the first floor up high, then each person grabbed a set of clothes and a pair of shoes and ran away. We don't know where to sleep tonight, we can stay in a store or at worst, we have to rent a hotel to stay overnight and think about it tomorrow," said Ms. Ha.

The deepest flood in the alley is about 1 meter deep, up to an adult's thigh (Photo: Hoang Hong).

At the entrance of Lane 823 Hong Ha, the motorbike repair shop closed later than usual because people kept coming in to have their spark plugs fixed. Scooters and manual motorbikes were pulled out of the flooded alley hundreds of meters long and could not start. The shop staff said he worked for free to help people "escape the flood".

Lane 823 Hong Ha is quite close to Chuong Duong Do Street. As of 8:30 pm tonight, the river water has intruded about 30 meters further into this street than at noon. The entire street has no electricity, but people still gather here in large numbers to clean up and take their belongings to evacuate.

A household lights candles to guard their house during the flood (Photo: Hoang Hong).

According to forecasts, the water level of the Red River, passing through Hanoi, may reach alert level 2 in the next 12 to 24 hours. Riverbank areas such as Phuc Xa, Phuc Tan, and Bo De may be flooded more deeply.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/chay-lu-giua-trung-tam-ha-noi-nguoi-dan-thap-nen-dap-bao-cat-tat-nuoc-20240910212213807.htm