Flood zones in Hoi An

Spot your house - Hoi An

Still Hoi An has it easy compared to Da Nang.

If you have studied the lay of the land, you will have noticed it is predominantly flat. This makes for equality - seeing how water seeks a natural balance.

The worst aspect of flooding in VN is the fact that they do not have separate waste sewers for toilet sewage and street/rain water. So when the floods come most all of the sewers back up and over flow in to the streets and houses and buildings. Unfortunately 99.999% of the houses in VietNam don't have anti-back flow flaps so flood water has an ingress into most homes.

Can't find the key hole

Another feature of VN building is that electrical outlets are often at chest height. This is no accident, it means they are usually above the flood line.

Back to Hoi An. There is the 'ancient town' where most of the houses are made from wood. You will also find there are holes drilled in the floors. The holes allow the water in and stop the buildings from turning in to boats and floating away.

The wooden construction is actually very smart - given how much water trees contain naturally. The annual soaking does little damage to the structures. The streets in the Ancient Town do turn in to rivers, sweeping away the debris, motorcycles and chairs. Winds can get high with signs, roof covering (the sheet corrugated iron are the most dangerous) if not secured, flying around.

Check out the water against the road sign

The land between Hoi An and Cua Dai beech is flat and only (just) above the river water line.

During the monsoons, sea tidal surges increase the water line even as far inland as Hoi An which further adds to the difficulty of getting rid of the water.

Along the beaches of Cua Dai, at low tide, you will see there is a two-metre 'step' in the level of the stony beaches, this is caused by the wave action of the monsoons.

Preparation is essential. Extra bottled gas; plenty of batteries and flash lights; candles and matches; waders; plastic buckets you can use as Porta-Toilets when the water is around; good quality rain coats (you can buy the from marine suppliers in Da Nang. A portable generator will give you some semblance of civilisation and keep the refrigerator running (don't forget the gasoline/petrol).

You will need copious amounts of bottled water (for drinking and cooking) and visiting the Metro store in Da Nang will allow you to buy box lots of noodles and other supplies.

Old hands in the flood areas have their motorcycles modified so that the carburettor/carburetters are extremely high, along with air intakes, so don't be riding an unmodified bike in the water1

The Vietnamese have survived these annual upsets for hundreds of years, and undoubtedly you can too. And then you can wear a T-shirt saying I survived the Monsoons.

I have experienced the storms in Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue (where water routinely is over two metres in some parts of town) and Da Nang was easily the worst with the wind driven debris.

NorthFamily wrote:

There are plenty of houses outside of the flood zone and when it floods we get plenty of notice as the flooding is caused by high tides, lots of rain and then they let the water out of the dam...and if you rent a house that floods, your landlord would probably show up with a team of people and help scrub it as the water goes down... It is actually an exciting time, kids are off school, tourists see the sights by paddle boats and like I said much of the land is free of flooding...

Michele,

Is it obvious when you look at a house if it's in the flood zone? I guess it seems like if there's been a flood in the last few years and the house was built before the flood, is it obvious that the house has been in a flood?

Also is it just as easy to find a condo on 2nd floor of a building? I'd almost prefer such a lifestyle.

Thanks!

John

johndale wrote:

Is it obvious when you look at a house if it's in the flood zone? I guess it seems like if there's been a flood in the last few years and the house was built before the flood, is it obvious that the house has been in a flood?

Also is it just as easy to find a condo on 2nd floor of a building? I'd almost prefer such a lifestyle.

Obviously you've never been to Hoi An in the wet season.

Located on the banks of a river, the land inland of the town saturates and all the flood waters flow, naturally, to the low sput, which for hundreds of hectares, is the river and the water, literally, turns the streets into small rivers.

There are highrises, inland, but they are for Vietnamese and besides living above the ground floor doesn't help much if you have no electricity or water.