Brisbane priest Fr Michael My Van Tran prayed day and night as Typhoon Bualoi tore through his home village Dai Dong, Vietnam, on the Feast of the Archangels on Monday. Source: The Catholic Leader.
The village lost power as the winds and rains picked up, becoming cut off from outside communication.
“I couldn’t sleep because I was anxious to contact my mum and my little sister,” Fr Tran, who is associate pastor at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane, said.
“It’s terrible, so confronting, it’s the second typhoon in a month – and so powerful.
“So I actually prayed with my (late) father, which I have the picture of him here, and said, ‘Keep her safe’.
“I prayed to God and Mary and the archangel (Michael) because that was the day yesterday that the typhoon hit – my patron saint, the patron saint of my village as well, St Michael.”
Fr Tran has since been able to reach his mother, Dung Pham, and younger sister, Y Tran, who were both safe.
Typhoon Bualoi made landfall in northern central Vietnam on Monday and the national death toll stood at 19. Last week, the typhoon killed at least 10 people in the Philippines.
It was the second typhoon of the month and Fr Tran said this one was much stronger.
He said his family’s carport was “now gone” and his family property had suffered damages to roofs and farms.
The typhoon was putting pressure on resources.
“The food is running out and there’s no clean water,” he said. “There’s also no power with most of the electricity poles fallen as well. It will take a long time to recover.”
Fr Tran urged people to pray for Vietnam and all those affected by the typhoon, saying after two typhoons in quick succession, many families might be left with “nothing”.
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Fr Michael Tran prays for his mum, sister and community as home village devastated by ‘powerful’ typhoon (By Joe Higgins, The Catholic Leader)
