大咖福利影院

ancientpathos wrote:

Cool, I like the storms!

Yah I think the Central had it's 2 recently so it's time for the South to get its turn.

So, how's the fishing up there AP?

saigonmonkey wrote:

Soooo.... where IS this big storm??? Been hearing about it all day today. Was supposed to hit at 3pm... then 4pm... then 7pm... Had a hard rain with some thunder at my house at about 7pm. Stopped after about 30 minutes, and now is dead-calm and roads dry. I'll believe it when I see/hear it.

a local newspaper just said that it was a mistake of weather forecast... Anyway, it was good that many companies let their employees left the office from 1/3pm...

saigonmonkey wrote:

Soooo.... where IS this big storm??? Been hearing about it all day today. Was supposed to hit at 3pm... then 4pm... then 7pm... Had a hard rain with some thunder at my house at about 7pm. Stopped after about 30 minutes, and now is dead-calm and roads dry. I'll believe it when I see/hear it.

I'm getting a constant downpour here in VT.

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

saigonmonkey wrote:

Soooo.... where IS this big storm??? Been hearing about it all day today. Was supposed to hit at 3pm... then 4pm... then 7pm... Had a hard rain with some thunder at my house at about 7pm. Stopped after about 30 minutes, and now is dead-calm and roads dry. I'll believe it when I see/hear it.

I'm getting a constant downpour here in VT.

I should have opened my Sea-Doo rental shop business in HCMC during the last flood.聽 Tomorrow would have been a very profitable day.

jakejas wrote:

That last picture is hilarious!

Yah it was hard to find people riding on sea-doos with the right angle and heading.聽 My idea isn't far fetched...there was actually a guy using a canoe/row boat in the recent flood.

Wild_1 wrote:

Hey gang,

I just saw a CNN report on that big storm, which is about to hit PI.聽 It looked pretty bad.聽 Vietnam is in its path...

We struggle with Vietnam in normal mode.聽 I highly doubt any of us will survive Vietnam in crisis mode.聽 So, especially those of you in the central area, keep an eye out for this thing and get yourself out of its way.

Yah, Super Typhoon Hiayan is coming.聽

lirelou wrote:

I notice that they keep building homes in flood run-off areas. There's a home construction project (My Gia) on the west side of Nha Trang in what used to be rice paddies. In August 1968 that land was under roughly 12 to 14 feet of water. I have a photo of a friend standing up to his knees in water on QL 1 between Nha Trang and Dien Khanh. What is not visible is the deuce and a half ton truck whose top he was standing on.

Good luck to anyone in the coming storms way. Don't get complacent. It's better to miss a good hurricane party than be at one when the wrong storm hits.

Yah unfortunately FEMA hasn't made it's way over here yet.聽 FEMA actually produces these Floodplan Hazardous Maps that pretty much allow local cities/towns to prohibit building in those areas.聽 Or if you do want to build in a floodzone, you have to elevate your house big time.

Because these houses in Vi峄噒 Nam are built during the dry season, they don't know where the flood level is and simply build them high up.聽 Roads, however, are built by just slapping some blacktop in the ground with no plans for drainage.聽

Flooding here will get worse for three obvious reasons.

One, the soils in the ground are very clayish (unlike Sand) and water doesn't percolate through fast enough.聽 聽

Two, the water table is already high so any water that does go through the ground can't go down anymore.聽 When you have high tide, the water table is in the negative.

Three, when development sprawls, they usually add concrete or other impervious surfaces on top of the group, creating almost like a roof so the water has to keep moving to find it's way into the ground.聽 As I have driven around HCMC alot, I have seen very little "dirt" so the impervious area coverage of the city is probably 80-90%.聽 Where can the water go?

Wild_1 wrote:

THD,

They do have a sewage system.聽 Not much, but they do have one.聽 The Vietnamese manholes are usually on the sidewalks.聽

Nonetheless, when the water rises, little me stay home and out of its way.

Are you talking about a drainage sewer system聽 (for rain water)?聽 There's a difference between a sanitary sewer system and a drainage sewer system.聽 If it's a sanitary sewer system, then it needs a treatment plant; else the shi stuff just goes right into the river...and high tide, come right back to ya.聽 I've not seen any sewage treatment plants.聽 The industrial zones are suppose to have some but they just dump their toxic waters straight into the rivers.

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

Wild_1 wrote:

Hey gang,

I just saw a CNN report on that big storm, which is about to hit PI.聽 It looked pretty bad.聽 Vietnam is in its path...

We struggle with Vietnam in normal mode.聽 I highly doubt any of us will survive Vietnam in crisis mode.聽 So, especially those of you in the central area, keep an eye out for this thing and get yourself out of its way.

Yah, Super Typhoon Hiayan is coming.聽

Here's what it did to the Philippeans as of this morning.



Super typhoon Haiyan slams Philippines; 'significant loss of life' predicted

mikeymyke wrote:

My fiance lives in Saigon, and it appears the storm will miss it, thank goodness.

Do they turn the power/electricity off when a storm starts down there?, they do it here, last time for nearly 16 hours, ( although 18 kms away in QN, they only lost power for short time ), I don't understand why they turn it off, the cable is insulated, ( fortunately for many VN's ).聽 They are always going around cutting down any tree's that may have even a remote chance of falling on a line, ( yah , more smoke ). And recently have installed concrete poles, ( this time more than 3 metres high ).

khanh44 wrote:

not much of an expert in power lines but I would assume strong wind, torrential water and downed power lines don't make touching water a pleasant zap.

I thought that was what circuit breakers/fuses/sub stations tripping , etc, are all about, ( maybe only the intial few seconds would be a worry ), the power seems to go immediately here when a tree falls on the lines. ( occasionally you will get a truck going under a line and shorting out the power, but that is the job of the guy sitting on the top of the truck, to lift up the line so the truck can go under it ).

khanh44 wrote:

Heard Typhoon Haiyan is set to make landfall around Hue or Quang Ngai area ....

bluenz wrote:

....

The forecasts keeps changing for where this sucker will hit.  If it's in Quảng Ng茫i, then will you please keep an eye out bluenz?  I'm free next week so if there's stuff I can bring up from here...I'll organize a convoy to go up there and help where we can.  Usually delivering boxes of instant noodles helps.  I'll hit up mikeymike to donate a box cuz he'll be so thankful.

mikeymyke wrote:

My fiance lives in Saigon, and it appears the storm will miss it, thank goodness.

And I'm sure alot of Expats in HCMC will be thankful as well (if this sucker misses HCMC and hits you in Quảng Ng茫i instead).

We'd come to your house and you can distribute the goods from that point.  But let us know what your neighborhood needs.

I'm sure the government and other NGOs will aid wherever this will hit so we will stay out of their way.

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

khanh44 wrote:

Heard Typhoon Haiyan is set to make landfall around Hue or Quang Ngai area ....

bluenz wrote:

....

The forecasts keeps changing for where this sucker will hit.  If it's in Quảng Ng茫i, then will you please keep an eye out bluenz?  I'm free next week so if there's stuff I can bring up from here...I'll organize a convoy to go up there and help where we can.  Usually delivering boxes of instant noodles helps.  I'll hit up mikeymike to donate a box cuz he'll be so thankful.

mikeymyke wrote:

My fiance lives in Saigon, and it appears the storm will miss it, thank goodness.

And I'm sure alot of Expats in HCMC will be thankful as well (if this sucker misses HCMC and hits you in Quảng Ng茫i instead).

We'd come to your house and you can distribute the goods from that point.  But let us know what your neighborhood needs.

I'm sure the government and other NGOs will aid wherever this will hit so we will stay out of their way.

Thanks for the offer, I'm sure you will enjoy the 900 km .
  trip. I just hope my house will still be here after.
Will keep you posted, but you might not hear from me until the power comes back on.  ( can't find a small generator here )

khanh44 wrote:

Stay safe bluenz and your family too. Just wished I was in Vietnam to help out anyway I can. We had the largest flood ever in Calgary 2 months ago and it was just incredible watching everyone pitch in to help out anyway they can.

Thanks Khanh, it seems to be happening worldwide, India/Aus/China, everywhere, of course it has nothing to do with global warming, etc, etc.

khanh44 wrote:

Stay safe bluenz and your family too. Just wished I was in Vietnam to help out anyway I can. We had the largest flood ever in Calgary 2 months ago and it was just incredible watching everyone pitch in to help out anyway they can.

You don't need to be here to help; your other half is already here.聽 Let's see how this puppy pans out but my initial plan looks like hiring one of these small trucks



Loading it with boxes of instant noodle and maybe some bags of rice (easy to find them down here in HCMC area), inviting one or two Expats and off we go.聽 Will take the mountain route (through Pleiku) since I'm sure QL1A will be flooded with relief vehicles already.

This is my brain brainstorming here...so nothing is set in stone.