​
A house in Tan Luot village was completely destroyed by flash floods.

At around 1:30 a.m. on May 18, a flash flood suddenly poured down Phieng Kham village, Yen Duong commune from a high mountain. The most painful thing was that Ly Hoc Vuong's house was completely swept away. Vuong's mother-in-law, Trieu Thi Dang, was swept away by the flood, seriously injured and died. Vuong was swept away by the flood and went missing.

Still in shock, Ly Thi Dao could not believe that in just a moment, she had lost two loved ones in this incident. The luckiest thing was that her children were safe. In the village meeting house, the bewildered eyes of the villagers were accompanied by tears when witnessing the bodies of the victims who died in the flash flood being found.

Before that, at around 11:30 p.m. on May 17, a flash flood also swept into Tan Luot village, Dong Phuc commune, taking the lives of Duong Thi Mui and Nguyen Van Bac. According to Mr. Duong Hong Phong (a villager), after a loud noise, water swept away rocks and soil. Mr. Dong Hoang Hanh said: “I am nearly 70 years old but have never witnessed such a large flash flood. The landslide from the mountain swept away rocks as big as houses”.

On May 18, functional forces of Bac Kan province, Ba Be district and two communes of Dong Phuc and Yen Duong focused on rescue and relief. By noon of the same day, the victims' bodies were found and handed over to their families for burial according to local customs.

In the two villages of Phieng Kham and Tan Luot, what was still visible were belongings swept away by the flood, stuck in stream banks, tree roots... Hundreds of hectares of fragrant green squash, a specialty in the harvest season, were submerged in floodwaters and completely damaged. Preliminary statistics show that, in addition to the four victims who died, the flash flood also broke the arm of Ms. Ly Thi Dao; causing injuries to Mr. Ly Hoc Phi in Phieng Kham village. The concrete road connecting Provincial Road 258 to National Highway 279 had a landslide on the negative slope; the Ba Be Lake bypass road had many rocks rolling down from the mountain; Provincial Road 253 through Na Gia village, Ha Hieu commune was deeply flooded; Coc Dong spillway, Na Khao village, Phuc Loc commune was damaged; five rigid bridges, two suspension bridges, two combined spillways, and three stream embankments in Dia Linh commune were severely damaged.

In Dia Linh commune, three electric poles were broken; some low-lying villages in Quang Khe and Dong Phuc communes were temporarily isolated. An estimated 500 hectares of crops were swept away, flooded, and damaged by the flood. Nhung Luy Cooperative (Yen Duong commune) had 90 cows swept away and died by the flood.

According to local people, this was the first time such a large flash flood had occurred in the locality. Immediately after the flood receded, local forces and people focused on overcoming the consequences, cleaning up mud and soil at households and government headquarters.

After the flood occurred, it was very difficult to access the scene of the two villages due to traffic disruption. The leaders of Ba Be district divided into two working groups to travel by vehicle and on foot to the scene to direct the work of overcoming the consequences. According to Secretary of the District Party Committee Duong Ngoc Thuyet, by all means and on all routes, we must make every effort to reach the scene as soon as possible to help the people. The working group led by Secretary of the District Party Committee Duong Ngoc Thuyet arrived early in the morning at Tan Luot village, while the working group led by Chairman of the District People's Committee Nong Ngoc Duyen also promptly arrived at Phieng Kham.

After visiting, encouraging and supporting the families of deceased and missing relatives, the district leaders directly directed the implementation of overcoming the consequences. According to the Chairman of the Nong Ngoc Duyen District People's Committee, the district has directed to urgently overcome the consequences according to the 4 on-site principle, and at the same time put up warning signs, prohibiting people and vehicles from traveling through landslide areas. The district also closely monitors weather developments to inform and guide people to respond promptly, determined not to let damage pile up on damage.

To overcome the consequences, Chairman of the Bac Kan Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Dang Binh directly went to the scene, visited and encouraged families with relatives who were victims. At the scene, Comrade Binh requested to mobilize maximum forces to support people in moving their belongings, cleaning up and sanitizing the environment to soon stabilize their lives.

On May 18, the Bac Kan Provincial Police mobilized 20 officers and soldiers from the Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue Police Department, divided into two teams to support people in two villages. The Bac Kan Department of Health also set up two working groups to go to the scene to find solutions to overcome the damage at the Dong Phuc and Yen Duong Commune Health Stations. At the same time, it directed the mobile team to spray disinfectants to prevent epidemics, instruct people on how to treat domestic water and give essential medicines to people.

In the face of complicated weather developments, Bac Kan province has issued warnings about areas at risk of flash floods and landslides in the near future. These are the communes: Dong Lac, Xuan Lac, Nam Cuong, Yen Thinh, Quang Bach... of Cho Don district; My Phuong, Chu Huong, Khang Ninh, Cao Thuong... of Ba Be district; Trung Hoa, Coc Dan, Thuong An... of Ngan Son district; Cong Bang, Giao Hieu, Co Linh... of Pac Nam district; Don Phong, Luc Binh, Vi Huong... of Bach Thong district; Kim Hy, Luong Thuong... of Na Ri district; Thanh Mai, Thanh Van of Cho Moi district.