HCMC makes huge effort to clean up after typhoon Usagi wreaks

Typhoon Usagi wreaked havoc across Ho Chi Minh City, leaving rubble, broken trees and layers of mud in its wake.

Traffic police help people to move through deep inundated streets (Photo: SGGP)
Traffic police help people to move through deep inundated streets (Photo: SGGP)
People are springing into action and dealing with the aftermath of the monster storm. Many streets were still submerged deeply measuring around 0.8 meter especially the National Highway 13 and Mien Dong Bus Station in Binh Thanh district.
The municipal Committee on Incident, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue yesterday said that the typhoon killed one people and injured two others. The typhoon damaged homes, caused widespread power outages, knocked down power poles, flooded some areas, uprooted large trees, and littered villages with typhoon debris.
Six houses collapsed and fourteen others’ roofs were blown off during the storm. Worse, 223 trees were uprooted and one power pole was knocked down while other power poles were damaged seriously.
102 streets were severely inundated. Until yesterday, 31 streets were still under water from 10cm to 40cm. Consequently, many vehicles were broken down and left in sidewalk or even in the middle of the lanes such as Nguyen Van Huong, Quoc Huong in district 2 and D2 in Binh Thanh District.
Mr. Minh from the southern province of Binh Duong had rings under his eyes after one sleepless night because he kept watching on his car.
Meantime, people in Quoc Huong street used sandbags, wood sticks to prevent water into houses while they cleanned up the houses. They placed a post “ Please drive slowly “ before the houses to prevent waves into house again caused by fast driving cars.
Traffic police helped owners of broken-down vehicles through deeply inundated An Lac crossroad.
Police in Binh Chanh District and their peers in Binh Tan District liaised to find out a missing young man who was swept away in the night of November 25 in Ben Loi Street’ canal between the two districts.
Downpours also submerged vehicles in many condominiums’ basement. For instance, all vehicles in Ngoc Khanh Condominium in Nguyen Bieu Street in Dsitrict 5 are under water; accordingly, fire fighters have supplied pumps to help dry them.
Teaching staffs in schools preschool Hoa Phuong, Ngo Quyen Junior High School, Huynh Van Nghe Junior High School and Binh Loc Senior High School in Binh Hung Hoa B ward in Binh Tan District and schools in district 6,7 12 cleaned up the facilities to prepare for the next class.
The State-owned power giant Vietnam Electricity (EVN) said because of strong winds and torrential rainfalls, power was cut off in some deep submerged districts on November 26.
Similarly, the Southern Power Corp said that the typhoon also caused impact on southern provinces especially Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Long An and the central provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan on November 25 leading to power off on the day.
Seventeen power poles were broken down and seven transformers were completely burnt out in Ba Ria- Vung Tau during the typhoon, resulting in a loss of VND 5 billion ($214,740).

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