Gail: Flooding in Hanoi

As most of you know, we have been traveling in Laos and Cambodia and returned to Hanoi yesterday.....and thought most of the flooding reported in the city was remote and removed from our lives.

Well, we were very wrong. The taxi from the airport couldn't get to the building we are staying in because of flood waters in the streets. After trying several routes we finally managed to find a dry street giving us access to our home-away from home.



If you want a sense of the flooding....click on this website below.
http://slide.legono.com/?tag=Hanoi&uid=tester

I vouch for the photos because similar types of things are happening on the campus where I am staying. The building I teach in (photo below) has about 18 inches of water on the first floor.



To enter you have to walk a series of elevated planks they have in place...then crawl into a window to the building. The hallway is lined with boards and benches from the sidewalk--so you hop from bench to bench until you get to the stairs and can go up to the second floor.



The smell is something both Phil and I want to forget quickly!


One of my students was very apologetic in class today because she didn't have her assignment completed. She had saved for a long time to get a computer and sadly it was under her bed in her ground floor apartment when the rains started. She lost the computer, most of her clothing and all her books and personal items. She wasn't crying.....as I am sure I would have been....but rather very embarrassed that she didn't have her assignment complete. Gad, that was the last thing I would have thought about.

The local market where I buy fruits, eggs and vegetables has vanished. The area is flooded and no vendors are around. I was even surprised to see that many of the people selling foods on the streets are gone. Not sure if they can't get into town or if their supply source has "dried up" due to the difficulties.


Phil and I walked around it and took this picture of an official collecting information from the people who had flood waters in their homes and businesses.




So....just wanted to let people know that the situation in Hanoi is not good right now. Hopefully things will dry out this weekend. I feel very sad for the people because many, like my student, have lost everything they had.