Brisbane priest Fr Sang Duc Bui’s family home was badly hit by Typhoon Bualoi, which made landfall in Vietnam on September 29. Source: The Catholic Leader.
“My parents and youngest sister spent the whole night trying to keep the roof, but because the typhoon was so strong and moved so slowly, it took away more than half of our roof,” he said.
“Following heavy rain, floodwaters inundated our house by nearly two metres.
“After more than a week of living in the rain, strong currents and power outages, Caritas of my home diocese of Ha Tinh came to the rescue and provided clean water and fast food.”
Fr Bui said many friends and family in Vietnam had told him they had never seen a typhoon that was so dangerous and lasted so long.
The same typhoon had badly impacted the family of St Stephen’s Cathedral associate priest Fr Michael Tran.
The typhoon killed 57 people in Vietnam and 37 people in the Philippines.
“As the floodwaters had just left my house, a new typhoon, Matmo, moved towards the north of Vietnam and my home parish was again affected by strong winds and stormy rains,” Fr Bui said.
“Many families and my family are now stable again, but they need to buy supplies to repair the roof and clean up the flooded items.
“People in northern Vietnam are currently suffering from heavy damage and big flooding due to the impact of Matmo.”
Typhoon Matmo triggered record flooding in many parts with tens of thousands of people stranded.
Authorities said eight people were killed in flash floods and landslides in Vietnam’s north since Monday with five other people still missing.
FULL STORY
Fr Sang Duc Bui’s family safe after Caritas rescue brings food and clean water following Typhoon Bualoi (By Joe Higgins, The Catholic Leader)
