The historic Central Vietnam Floods of November 2025 will be etched into Vietnam’s meteorological history as a chapter soaked in tears and mire. No one could have believed that in less than ten days, the Central region, a narrow strip of land already calloused by natural disasters, would be forced to buckle under such a devastating scenario. Historic 50-year water-level benchmarks on the Ba and Bo rivers were toppled one after another.
PART 1: A TRAGIC “RECORD” – WHEN THE WATER HAS NOWHERE TO RECEDE
The Tragic Record of Central Vietnam Floods
November 2025 will be etched into Vietnam’s meteorological history as a chapter soaked in tears and mire. No one could have believed that in less than ten days, the Central region, a narrow strip of land already calloused by natural disasters, would be forced to buckle under such a devastating scenario.
Historic 50-year water-level benchmarks on the Ba and Bo rivers were toppled one after another. It was as if nature were unleashing its final fury of the year, transforming bustling urban centers and peaceful villages into a vast ocean where humans felt infinitely small and helpless. It was a sign that the Central Vietnam Floods would break the records of 1993 and beyond.
The rain did not fall in drops; it descended in torrents, like lashes of water whipping against corrugated iron roofs, creating a wailing, mournful drone that enveloped the ancient capital.
Mr. Tran Van Loi (65, residing in Dak Lak) was sleeping after two exhausting days of clearing mud from the previous flood when he was jolted awake by the urgent sirens of emergency vehicles and the frantic barking of dogs.
“I shuddered. Just yesterday afternoon, the Huong River was only at Alert Level 2, and the radio said the water would rise slowly. Yet after just one sleep, the water had already flooded into the house.” – Mr. Loi recounted, his eyes still wide with shock.
(Many areas in Dak Lak are submerged under floodwaters. Photo: Dak Dak Newspaper)
This was not just Mr. Loi’s story. Flood-discharge scenarios had been calculated, but the heavens did not cooperate. A colossal rainfall of up to 800mm poured down on Bach Ma in just 24 hours, an unimaginable figure, overwhelming every spillway and reservoir.
In Nha Trang, images of luxury cars and trucks bobbing helplessly in the murky currents on Ham Nghi and Le Duan streets in the early hours of November 25 became symbols of a modern city’s impotence against nature. No one had time to evacuate; no one had time to move their belongings. The water rose at a terrifying speed of one meter per hour, turning the ground floors of tens of thousands of homes into tanks of sewage and sludge. The speed of the water during the Central Vietnam Floods caught everyone by surprise.
(Floodwaters engulf the western gateway of Nha Trang. Photo: Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper)
But the true tragedy lay farther south: in Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.
(Phu Yen is heavily flooded on a large scale. Photo: Dan Tri Newspaper)
People here do not possess the seasoned flood-evacuation experience of those in Hue or Quang Binh. Consequently, when the Ba River (Da Rang) and Ky Lo River rose vertically like giant walls of water rushing downstream, panic rippled across entire communities.
At 5:00 PM on November 19, the floodwater of the Ba River at the Cung Son station reached 40.31 meters, exceeding Alert Level 3 by 5.81 meters and surpassing the historic 1993 peak by 0.41 meters.
We were present at Dinh Ong Bridge (Phu Hoa District, Phu Yen) at the moment the water crested. The river, usually gentle, roared like a red-brown monster, sweeping away clumps of thorny bamboo, carcasses of cattle, and fragile tin roofs. The rushing water drowned out even the loudest human voices.
Mr. Le Minh Tam, a truck driver stranded at the bridgehead, exclaimed: “I’ve driven North-South my whole life, but I have never seen the Ba River this ferocious…”
Mr. Tam’s trailing sentence served as a grim forecast for what we would witness in the next part of this series. When the water has nowhere to recede, it swallows everything in its path.
PART 2: ISOLATED “NAVELS OF THE FLOOD” – WHEN ASSETS BECOME ZERO AND SURVIVAL IS THE ONLY PRIORITY
As night fell, Central Vietnam was plunged into thick darkness, widespread power outages and lost cell signals. In that abyss, in remote communes of Dak Lak or the isolated oases within Phu Yen, thousands of human lives clung to their final footholds: rooftops, treetops… There, we saw tears that could no longer fall, dried up by sheer exhaustion.
(Residents climb onto rooftops to escape the rising floodwaters. Photo: Vietnam Women’s Newspaper)
To reach Hoa Thinh Commune (Tay Hoa District, Phu Yen), which lay under three meters of water, our reporting team had to request support from an engineering brigade and use specialized canoes to navigate the fierce currents.
The surrounding space was filled only with the sound of rain lashing our faces and the roar of canoe engines. Occasionally, a searchlight would sweep across houses where only the tips of red-tiled roofs remained visible. It was a scene of desolation and bone-chilling cold.
We approached the family of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Mot (72) as she huddled on a makeshift wooden loft, the water lapping at the floorboards. The family of five, including her, her son and daughter-in-law, and two small grandchildren, was sharing a packet of dry, crushed instant noodles, the last food they had left after two days of isolation.
“It’s all gone! Two cows, a flock of a hundred chickens, and three tons of newly harvested rice… Washed away!” – Mrs. Mot’s son, Tuan, the family’s breadwinner, broke down sobbing like a child.
For a farming family, cattle are their foundation; rice is life itself. The Central Vietnam Floods passed through, sweeping away their assets, and with them, the future of the two trembling children in their grandmother’s lap. They were hungry and cold but dared not cry aloud, only whimpering in their throats. The deprivation here was not just poverty; it was absolute destitution. No dry blankets, no medicine for the feverish child, not even a sip of clean water. They were surviving on rainwater caught from the rusting roof.
Fresh data from Dak Lak on November 26-27 showed that the situation in M’Drak and Ea Kar districts was equally tragic. The steep mountainous terrain caused the floods to arrive with the speed of a flash flood.
The most haunting image on the news was a helicopter from Air Force Regiment 930 hovering amidst gusting winds to drop instant noodles and water to completely cut-off villages.
(A helicopter from Regiment 930 delivers essential supplies to residents in Dak Lak. Photo: Air Defense Newspaper)
At the scene, we witnessed police officers wading through freezing water, using ropes to pull a homemade raft carrying a woman in labor out of the danger zone. The husband’s scream in the rain, “Hang in there, honey, we’ve reached the main road!”, wrenched the hearts of everyone present.
In these flooded houses, the line between life and death was incredibly fragile. The desperation caused by the Central Vietnam Floods turned simple commodities like medicine and water into lifebuoys. There were bedridden elderly stroke victims; as the water rose, their children could only raise the bed on bricks, standing guard and monitoring the water level centimeter by centimeter. If the water rose another 20 centimeters, they would face the most painful decision of their lives.
At this moment, a warm coat, a fever reducer, a bottle of fresh water… Were no longer simple commodities. They were lifebuoys. They were what decided whether a human being could survive the night.
PART 3: DECODING THE FURY – NATURAL DISASTER OR “MAN-MADE DISASTER”?
When the water receded, leaving behind a layer of young mud one meter thick and the carcasses of ruined houses, the biggest question remained: Why were the floods of 2025 so abnormal and devastating?
According to in-depth analysis from the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting that we accessed, the undeniable primary cause is extreme climate change.
The La Nina phenomenon usually ends early in the year, but in 2025, it anomalously persisted into November, warming the waters of the East Sea and feeding immense energy into storms. Storm No. 15 (Koto), though it had not yet made landfall, combined its distant circulation with cold air from the north to create a “multi-hazard complex,” pinning Central Vietnam beneath an intertropical convergence zone that unleashed ceaseless rain.
(Illustration. Photo: Environment & Economic Magazine)
“Extreme rainfall” is the keyword of the year. Some areas received 500mm of rain in just six hours. No drainage system in the world, be it Tokyo’s or New York’s, could withstand that load, let alone the infrastructure of Central Vietnam.
However, the human factor is what truly demands discussion.
The operation of inter-reservoir systems in the Ba River basin and the rivers in Hue is always a sensitive issue. Before the flood, reservoirs were required to store water for electricity generation and dry-season irrigation. But when heavy rains arrived unexpectedly, exceeding forecasts, these reservoirs were forced to discharge water urgently to protect the dams.
(The inter-reservoir system in the Ca River and Huong River basins. Photo: Government Newspaper)
The rapid discharge of water (sometimes reaching 3,000-4,000 m³/s) exactly when downstream areas were suffering heavy rain created a “compound flooding” effect, worsening the Central Vietnam Floods significantly.. Although technically compliant with procedures, from a humanitarian perspective it left people with no time to react.
Then there is the issue of upstream forests in the Central Highlands. When natural forests are replaced by economic acacia and melaleuca plantations, the soil’s water-retention capacity decreases significantly. Rainwater is not held in the canopy or the soil but slides straight downstream at terrifying speeds, dragging soil and rocks with it and causing landslides at Khanh Le Pass and Ca Pass. This issue amplified the severity of the Central Vietnam Floods.
Finally, there is urban planning. Nha Trang flooded heavily not just because of rain, but because of concretization. The loss of natural water pockets intensified the devastation caused by the Central Vietnam Floods. Natural low-lying areas, ponds, and regulating lakes, which had functioned as “water pockets” for thousands of years, have been filled in to build new urban areas and riverside resorts. The water has nowhere to permeate, nowhere to be stored, and is forced to surge into the streets and people’s homes.
PART 4: HEARTS CRISSCROSSING THE NATION – WHEN THE WHOLE COUNTRY STRAINS TO SHELTER THE CENTRAL REGION
Amid the devastation and ruin, while the smell of young mud still hung heavy and fear of approaching Storm Koto loomed, a warm flame was kindled. It was the flame from overnight convoys, from the hearts of people in the North and South turning toward the central strip of the country. Natural disasters may wash away homes, but they cannot wash away national solidarity.
Highway 1A these days is not just filled with passenger buses but also packed with trucks bearing banners: “Toward the Central Region,” “Supporting Central Vietnam Floods Victims”.
(Tons of essential supplies delivered to Central Vietnam free charity trucks. Photo: Thanh Nien Newspaper)
At a rest stop in Quang Ngai, we met Mr. Tran Van Hung, a driver of a relief convoy departing from Hanoi. Dark circles framed his eyes after driving continuously for 30 hours.
“Hearing that the people here lost everything, we brothers in the North couldn’t sleep. This trip, my truck is carrying 500 cotton blankets, 200 boxes of dry provisions, and medicine. The roads are blocked by landslides; we had to take endless detours to get here, but no matter how tired we are, we have to go. Being one minute late means the people suffer for another minute.” – Mr. Hung said, hurriedly chewing on a loaf of bread.
From the southern end of the country, the atmosphere was equally fervent. In Ho Chi Minh City, volunteer groups mobilized tens of tons of rice, instant noodles, and especially life jackets and flashlights. Ms. Mai Lan, a small trader at Thu Duc wholesale market, choked up: “Every year it floods, but this year is heartbreaking. I gathered a little money and encouraged the other female traders to chip in whatever they could to buy the most practical things for the people.”
(Residents in Ho Chi Minh City busily prepare relief goods for people in Central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nien Newspaper)
Without needing to be urged, the whole country is voluntarily stepping up. Those with money give money; those with strength give strength. These vehicles carry not just goods; they carry faith and the hope of rebirth.
(Flood–affected residents express joy upon receiving relief supplies. Photo: Thanh Nien Newspaper)
The image of an old toothless woman holding a box of hot rice, tears welling in her eyes, or children cheering when they received new notebooks and pens to replace the school supplies washed away by the water… These were the most beautiful moments in the gray picture of the flood.
However, the reality remains incredibly harsh. Relief goods only solve immediate hunger. But collapsed houses have not been rebuilt. The mud has not been cleared. And more terrifyingly, Storm No. 15 (Koto) is silently marching in.
“Receiving gifts from people across the country makes us very happy, but our hearts are still burning with anxiety. The storm is coming again; the roof was blown off and hasn’t been fixed, and now we don’t know where to run.” – Shared a resident in Phu Yen with deep worry.
Conclusion
Central Vietnam right now is like a patient who has just recovered from one illness only to brace for another.
Boxes of instant noodles are precious, but right now, people need more than that to rebuild their lives long-term following the destruction of the Central Vietnam Floods. They need materials to reconstruct houses, livestock to restart herds, books so children won’t have to drop out of school, and fully equipped medical stations to prevent post-flood epidemics.
The journey to revive Central Vietnam cannot be accomplished if they must walk it alone.
Relief convoys from the North and South are still rolling, but the road ahead is long. And on that road, every act of sharing, no matter how small, is a brick helping our compatriots rebuild the flood wallswalls, and rebuild their faith in tomorrow after the Central Vietnam Floods.
Central Vietnam is not crying, because their tears have already merged with the floodwaters. But Central Vietnam needs hands to hold tightly, right now…
Support the Relief Committee
- Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank)
– Account Name: Central Relief Mobilization Committee
– Account Number: 55102025
- Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV)
– Account Name: Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee – Central Relief Mobilization Committee
– Account Number: 8639699999
3.Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank)
– Account Name: Central Relief Mobilization Committee
– Account Number: 1400666102025
- Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)
– Account Name: Vietnam Fatherland Front – Central Relief Committee
– Account Number: 8888881010
Foreign Currency (USD) Accounts
1.Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank)
– Account Name: Central Relief Mobilization Committee
– Account Number: 118 600 102025
– Swift Code: ICBVVNVX131
- Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)
– Account Name: Vietnam Fatherland Front – Central Relief Committee
– Account Number: 666.666.1010
– Swift code: BFTVVNVX