A Singaporean family of four have been sitting tight in their hotel room in Hoi An since Saturday night, as Typhoon Damrey hit the southern coast of Vietnam.
Mr Roy Sim, his wife Stacy Lo and their daughters, aged five and two, are holed up in their second-storey room at the Green Heaven Hoi An Resort and Spa as water reaches chest-high in the streets of the popular tourist town.
In the hotel, which is on higher ground, the water is waist-high on the first floor, Mr Sim told Channel NewsAsia. Guests were being evacuated with boats, which sailed right into the hotel lobby on Sunday (Nov 5).
Residents and tourists are transported by boats through floodwaters in the tourist town of Hoi An on Nov 5, 2017. (Photo: AFP)
They expect the water to rise further but with two young children in tow, they decided to stay put for the time being.
“We have decided to stay on in the hotel as floating around in a boat with heavy rains is not a risk we want to take with our two girls,” he said in a Facebook update on Sunday afternoon.
Their room is still “comfortable” and they have instant noodles and eggs on standby, he added.
Most of the people in the low-lying houses around them have been evacuated, he said, and there are about 14 hotel guests left. The hotel staff have stayed behind with them and have been “very helpful”, he said.
“There’s not much information in English online, but the hotel staff have been helpful in providing us their opinions, and what they’ve been hearing on Vietnamese TV, so that helps,” he wrote.
Mr Sim and his family flew to Hoi An last Tuesday for a holiday. He heard about the incoming typhoon on Friday but did not expect it to affect Hoi An so severely.
“We’re supposed to fly back to Singapore this Tuesday. Hope the flight will not be affected,” he told CNA.
For now, they will wait out the bad weather, he said.
Flooded streets of Hoi An. (Photo: Roy Sim)
Typhoon Damrey which made landfall on Saturday, is the worst in decades to strike the country’s southern coastal region, an area normally spared the typhoons that typically hit further north.
More than 30,000 people were evacuated in central Vietnam and at least 27 have been reported dead.
