Traffic jam on Nguyễn Trãi Street at around 8:30pm on Tuesday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Kiên

HÀ NỘI — Northern and central provinces are reeling from the fury of Typhoon Bualoi, which has unleashed surging rivers, flash floods and deadly landslides across wide areas beyond Hà Nội.

On Tuesday, hours of intense downpour left large swathes of Hà Nội submerged. By 4pm, city authorities reported 82 flooded hotspots, with rainfall at several locations surpassing 366mm — far beyond the capacity of the capital’s drainage system, which is designed to handle only 310mm in 48 hours.

The timing made matters worse. As evening rush hour coincided with the deluge, traffic ground to a halt. Many commuters abandoned their motorbikes and cars, trudging home on foot through knee-deep water.

Daily journeys turned into ordeals

For office worker Vũ Thu Trang, 42, what should have been a routine ride from her workplace on Lý Thường Kiệt Street to collect her child in Xã Đàn Street became an exhausting trial. Confronted by flooded streets, she left her motorbike at a nearby office and walked half an hour home with her children in tow.

Nguyễn Ngọc Diệp, another office worker in Cầu Giấy Ward, described slogging through knee-high water on Phạm Văn Bạch Street. “It took me two and a half hours to cover just 5km,” she said, drenched and exhausted.

Others fared no better.

Trần Thu Hằng, who lives in Vĩnh Tuy Ward, set out from Thái Hà Street in Đống Đa Ward hoping to catch a bus, only to find none were running. She eventually walked more than 6km past stranded cars and motorbikes, through Tây Sơn, Trường Chinh and Giải Phóng streets.

By the time she reached home more than two hours later, shivering from the cold, she recalled: “I haven’t seen chaos like this since the 2008 floods.”

Even those who managed to stay with their vehicles endured nightmare commutes, trapped for hours in traffic that showed no sign of moving

Local people walk through floodwater in Mạc Thị Bưởi Street in Hà Nội on Tuesday afternoon.—VNA/VNS Photo

Office worker Ngọc Linh called her 6km ride “a torment”, recounting how she navigated pavements and side alleys while thunder roared and rain lashed her face.

Ô Chợ Dừa Street was deeply inundated.

“At the Liễu Giai–Đào Tấn intersection, water was nearly a metre deep. Pick-up trucks were stranded mid-road,” she said.

Major thoroughfares including Nguyễn Cảnh Dị, Trường Chinh, Nguyễn Hoàng and Nguyễn Huy Tưởng were paralysed.

Cars stalled and had to be towed while motorbikes swerved into opposite lanes to escape the floods.

At the Phạm Hùng–Mễ Trì intersection and Ring Road 3, traffic was gridlocked.

For 30-year-old Đồng Anh Đức, a normally straightforward journey from Cửa Nam Street to Linh Đàm Street took hours.

“The rain had stopped but the streets were still rivers. In places, the water reached halfway up my motorbike. I’ve lived in Hà Nội for three decades and this is one of the worst floods I’ve ever seen,” said Đức.

Many workers resigned themselves to spending the night at their workplaces.

Linh Phương, who works on Nguyễn Cảnh Dị Street, was distraught.

On Tuesday morning, the roads were passable. By evening, everything around her office, including Lê Trọng Tấn, Trịnh Đình Cửu and Kim Giang streets, was under water.

“I couldn’t get home, so my colleagues and I are staying put, hoping the water recedes.

“We’ve even joked we’ll share packets of instant noodles if deliveries can’t reach us,” she said.

Similarly, at the National Institute of Endocrinology in Tứ Hiệp Ward, doctor Trần Kim Phúc found himself stranded after finishing his shift.

“All the main routes – Ring Road 3, Mỹ Đình and Phạm Văn Đồng – are submerged. Around the hospital the water is rising too. We may just stay the night here together,” he said.

Students of Giảng Võ Secondary School are given dinner by the school when their parents had not picked them up yet on Tuesday evening.— VNA/VNS Photo

Pupils stay overnight at school

With streets inundated, several schools made the unprecedented decision to feed and house students overnight.

At Phan Huy Chú High School, principal Cao Thanh Nga issued an urgent notice, allowing pupils whose families could not safely collect them to stay the night, with teachers supervising and separate rooms for boys and girls.

Marie Curie School principal Nguyễn Xuân Khang pledged that “no child will be left hungry or cold,” arranging free evening meals and shelter.

Jean Piaget Primary School provided dinner at 6.30pm and prepared for pupils to stay overnight if conditions did not improve.

Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Secondary and High School also prepared hot meals and designated teachers to monitor pupils through the night, even promising breakfast before they went home.

By Tuesday evening, the Hà Nội Department of Education announced all schools in the city would close on Wednesday due to the continuing floods.

“Teachers can adapt by delivering lessons online,” director Trần Thế Cương told the Vietnamnet online newspaper.

Floodwaters hit Tuyên Quang Province.— VNA/VNS Photo

Provinces submerged

Beyond Hà Nội, provinces across the north and central regions have been heavily affected.

In Tuyên Quang Province, water levels on the Lô and Gâm rivers surged above danger levels, flooding 41 communes with depths of one to four metres and threatening landslides in mountainous areas.

More than 4,700 military personnel and local militia were mobilised to assist evacuations, distribute supplies and guard landslide-prone roads.

In Yên Bái City, the Thao River overflowed, inundating 35 neighbourhoods. Local authorities ordered urgent evacuations and distributed bottled water, instant noodles and bread to cut-off households.

Lào Cai Province also reported widespread flooding and landslides with power cuts in severely affected areas.

In Thanh Hóa Province, on Tuesday afternoon, Phạm Đức Toàn, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Hàm Rồng Ward, said torrential rains brought by Typhoon Bualoi, combined with upstream floodwaters from the Mã River and the release of water from hydropower plants, had left more than 2,000 households in the ward submerged.

To proactively respond to the flooding caused by the typhoon, ward authorities reviewed all households and prepared evacuation plans for those living in areas at risk of deep flooding, particularly riverside communities, locations prone to landslides and structurally weak houses considered unsafe.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment’s disaster management office, as of 6am on Wednesday the typhoon and resulting floods had caused severe casualties and destruction across northern and central Việt Nam.

The damage consisted of 29 dead, 22 missing and 139 injured across 10 provinces. Over 91 houses collapsed and more than 144,000 were damaged or unroofed. A total of 20,166 homes were flooded, including nearly 9,000 in Thanh Hóa Province alone. — VNS