Flood in Myanmar: Hidden Dangers

A charity worker in the mountains of Myanmar is caught in a devastating flood. Joel Hofmann spends his days working with locals, trying to make life here easier if he can. But when a tropical typhoon unleashes destruction on their quiet town, he and his brother will find themselves thrust into mayhem. Doing their best to lend a hand, they’ll face collapsing buildings, hidden hazards and utter confusion. And when the flood cuts off their only route home, the stakes are raised once again… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Joe Viner | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 1:03John Hopkins?

  It's September 11, 2024. In the Shan province of eastern Myanmar, a small mountain town is slowly disappearing beneath a torrent of brown floodwater.

• 1:17John Hopkins?

  The local river, swelled by days of torrential rain, has burst its banks. It now spills outwards, forming an unbridgeable swathe that surges through the town. Buildings, entire streets are swept away, as the ground beneath their concrete foundations dissolves into liquid mud.

• 1:38John Hopkins?

  Trees are uprooted and sucked downstream, branches thrashing like drowning limbs.

• 1:45John Hopkins?

  In the churning mass, bulky items tumble and swirl: tuk-tuks and motorcycles, brick walls and chain-link fences, items of furniture and household belongings. All are borne along by the fierce current.

• 2:00John Hopkins?

  In the chaos, terrified townspeople seek refuge.

• 2:05John Hopkins?

  Some huddle on the few remaining rooftops still visible above the water. Others shimmy up telephone poles, or string together life rafts out of plastic bottles and rope.

• 2:17John Hopkins?

  A few, meanwhile, have been left with no choice but to pit their own strength against that of the flood, and swim for their lives.

• 2:28John Hopkins?

  Among them, a 26-year-old Joel Hoffman and his brother Silas. The two men struggle against the deluge, fighting to keep their heads above the rampaging debris-filled water.

• 2:41Speaker 03

  We're now in the middle of this flood. We're surrounded by debris, hidden dangers, fallen fences and collapsed buildings. There's barbed wire underwater.

• 2:54Speaker 03

  That's when things like really start kicking and like, okay, now we're in danger.

• 2:59John Hopkins?

  Joel flails his limbs, trying to retain some degree of control. But it's futile. The current whisks the brothers along, dragging them at full tilt through the flooded town.

• 3:12John Hopkins?

  There's a crunch and a sudden, sharp stabbing sensation as Joel collides with a tangle of tree branches.

• 3:19John Hopkins?

  He instinctively grabs a handful of leaves and twigs, grateful for the brief respite from the current, an opportunity to catch his breath.

• 3:28John Hopkins?

  Seconds later, however, he feels a fiery pain in his hands. The tree is full of thorns, little needles that scratch his skin and tear at his clothes.

• 3:42Speaker 03

  Every single tree in our path was like a thorn tree. And so we're like getting catapulted by the current into these like thorn trees. But you're like, I don't want to hold on to this, but I also don't want to get pulled along by the current, clinging for dear life.

• 3:55John Hopkins?

  Somewhere nearby, above the roar of the flood, he can hear Silas calling his name, asking him if he's all right. Joel yells back, assuring his brother that he's still with him. But after battling these floodwaters for hours, his body is spent.

• 4:12John Hopkins?

  And as he clings desperately to this thorny tree as the current continues to claw at him, pulling and tugging from below, how much longer can he hold on?

• 4:22Speaker 03

  It's like at the end of a workout where you're like trying to lift, even just trying to get up, you know, it's like your muscles are done and your mind's like, well, I should be able to do this. But our body's like, no, we're not doing this. We can't do this anymore. It definitely felt like, oh, I'm very close to like my body just giving out.

• 4:45John Hopkins?

  Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

• 5:07John Hopkins?

  In this episode, we meet Joel Hoffman. In 2024, he's living in the mountains of Myanmar, where his elder brother Silas runs a small Christian charity. Joel spends his days working with locals, trying to make life here easier if he can. But when a tropical typhoon unleashes catastrophic flooding on their quiet rural town, two brothers will find themselves thrust into a terrifying new position of responsibility.

• 5:32Speaker 03

  We're two able-bodied young men. We know how to swim. That's more than pretty much anyone else in the town. We're in a position where we can maybe help some people in the midst of this.

• 5:43John Hopkins?

  Joel and Silas venture out into the flood to lend a hand. But what they find is utter mayhem. A chaotic scene of panic, fear, and destruction. The brothers will face collapsing buildings, hidden hazards, and utter confusion. And when the flood cuts off their only route back home, where they have family waiting for them, the stakes are raised once again. It's time to sink or swim.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  And I could feel the current like pulling my legs under this kind of thump of debris. You're fighting for your life. You're trying to think of how do I get to safety? How do I keep surviving? What can we do next? How do we get through this?

• 6:24John Hopkins?

  I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

• 6:50John Hopkins?

  It's the evening of September the 9th, 2024, in Southeast Asia.

• 6:55John Hopkins?

  Across the Shan province of eastern Myanmar, heavy rain drums against the corrugated metal rooftops of a small mountain town.

• 7:04John Hopkins?

  For days now, much of Southeast Asia has been swamped by torrential downpours as tropical typhoon Yagi works its way across the region.

• 7:13John Hopkins?

  Low-lying areas have already experienced severe flooding. But up here, in the mountains, the steep valleys act like drainage canals, providing the rainwater with somewhere to go.

• 7:25John Hopkins?

  Still, the river that runs through the center of the town has seldom risen this high before, prompting unease among some local residents. If it continues to rise, it could burst its banks. And in a region with very little infrastructure to deal with floods, the consequences could be dire.

• 7:44John Hopkins?

  A short distance uphill from the river, 26-year-old Joel Hoffman runs through the rain-drenched streets, his jacket pulled over his head.

• 7:53John Hopkins?

  For the last few days, he's been keeping a close eye on the typhoon as it barrels towards Myanmar. He's heard the reports of devastating flooding in coastal areas of Vietnam. But where they are, this high up in the mountains, the threat still feels remote.

• 8:12Speaker 03

  We were like not worried at all. We're in the mountains. You don't get floods in a mountain. That's kind of, I don't know, that feels like somewhat conventional wisdom. The water goes downhill. Why would there be a flood in our town?

• 8:25John Hopkins?

  Joel splashes his way down a narrow residential street. Eventually, he arrives at the place he's called "home" since arriving here last summer. A small wooden house, raised off the ground by a slab of thick cement. He steps inside. He removes his waterlogged trainers and socks, then heads upstairs for a hot shower and a change of clothes.

• 8:51John Hopkins?

  Though he's only lived here in Myanmar for a little over a year, Joel has become accustomed to life in this bustling market town. It's something he's always been good at, adapting to new environments, due in no small part to his upbringing. He is the son of Christian missionaries, whose work still takes them all over the world, from Germany, where Joel was born, to India, Australia, Greece.

• 9:16Speaker 03

  I had a very adventurous childhood, you know, like sitting on the top of cars, flying to new places, being in what some would consider like unreasonably hostile places. I grew up in India for like first eight years of my life. Early 2000s, India was a lot more dangerous than it is now. And so I think growing up, I was okay with adventure and feeling unsafe, if that makes sense. Being used to constant changes and paradigm shifts and culture and background and environment has, I think, definitely helped me to feel ready in a moment where everything's changed in the course of like a day.

• 9:58John Hopkins?

  Now, aged 26, Joel has followed in his parents' footsteps. After spending a few years doing missionary work in Canada, he came out here to Myanmar, where his older brother Silas runs a small Christian organization in the mountains of the Shan province. In a country blighted by social and political unrest, the work they do is challenging.

• 10:20Speaker 03

  The brokenness in the country is extreme. It's a really broken society, a lot of broken families. So the young people are the ones that really suffering because I'm satisfied, they all have smartphones and the internet. They see what's out there. And yet, for most of them, it feels totally unattainable to, you know, even travel or to just visit one other country or to, you know, have a home and a career that's somewhat fulfilling. Realistically, a lot of our work was just navigating the chaos. It genuinely felt like every week was like, oh, what's changed? What's the new playing field? What can we do in this? It did feel at times very discouraging because like everything you're planning on doing, it felt like it always was taken away.

• 11:04John Hopkins?

  But there are, of course, rewarding aspects too, like working with local kids and setting up support programs. Joel's brother Silas lives here permanently with his wife and three children. He has established the mission in a remote rural town.

• 11:21Speaker 03

  My brother's been there for over a decade. There's a balance between sharing faith, but also being practically helpful. And so a big part of what they're doing is community development projects and education projects. And so that's why I joined, and just to help them out and spend some time there.

• 11:41John Hopkins?

  Joel makes himself as useful as he can. But he hasn't found his time here easy for a variety of reasons. And now he's feeling the need for a change. A few months ago, he made the difficult decision to leave Myanmar for Australia, where he hopes to do something different for a while. He'll be getting on a plane in a few weeks' time. It'll be tough, parting with his family and the many local people he's met, but it feels like the right decision. A fresh start in a place with more people his own age, who speak his language, where he won't feel so isolated.

• 12:15Speaker 03

  I was with family, but there's still a sense of loneliness, where, you know, I'm the only young person of my culture there who I can talk with and like, to think the simple is, you know, play board games with or watch a movie with. So that kind of admiring friendship definitely weighed on me. It was a sense of like loneliness there. Which I think was one of the main things that was really hard, was just feeling very lonely.

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• 13:50John Hopkins?

  It's around 5:00 PM on September the 10th. Joel sits in his brother's small kitchen, watching the rain lash against the windowpane. Silas is checking the weather reports on his phone.

• 14:03John Hopkins?

  Silas is a decade older than Joel, but despite this significant age gap, the two brothers share a close bond.

• 14:11Speaker 03

  He's 10 years older, so I've looked up to him my whole life. He's the cool older brother that would take me to the arcade and there's a unique relationship there.

• 14:20John Hopkins?

  All day Joel has been keeping tabs on the water levels outside, watching the rain collect in the street. The separate puddles gradually joining up to form large, muddy lakes. The pavements slowly sinking from view.

• 14:34Speaker 03

  You're starting to monitor it in the back of your head, like, well, let's keep an eye on this. It's still raining, but at that time we still felt, well, the water should have somewhere to go, and it was moving.

• 14:44John Hopkins?

  Despite the continuing rain, the floodwater in the streets does appear to be draining away. One advantage of living in the mountains is that everything eventually flows downhill.

• 14:55John Hopkins?

  But then, just as the sun is beginning to set, a power cut plunges the room into darkness. Joel and Silas look at each other. Has the flood brought down a utility pole? Could rainwater have seeped into the power supply? Whatever the case, it's a troubling development. At least they still have cell service. Silas lights a candle and in the flickering glow, the brothers start sending out texts, keeping their loved ones abreast of the developing situation.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  We're like texting our family, we're overseas. Hey, you know, there's some flooding here, the power's gone out. And then suddenly, I don't know, maybe like around 8, 9 p.m., the internet cuts out completely and there's no cell service. We're essentially cut off from the rest of the world in that moment.

• 15:45John Hopkins?

  This remote place suddenly seems more remote than ever.

• 15:50John Hopkins?

  After eating dinner at his brother's, Joel makes the five-minute walk back to his own house.

• 15:55John Hopkins?

  Rainwater spills beyond the gutters, forming two torrents on either side of the road. He sticks to the single dry strip of dirt running between them, picking his way carefully in the dark.

• 16:07John Hopkins?

  The town they live in sprawls across two sides of a lush mountain valley, with houses reaching high up the opposing slopes. Joel and Silas live partway up one of these slopes. But there are many who live further down, closer to the river, where the flooding must be more severe.

• 16:26John Hopkins?

  As he walks, he looks down the hill. The entire town has been plunged into darkness by the power outage. He can't see a thing.

• 16:35John Hopkins?

  He quickens his pace, anxious to get home and drive.

• 16:46John Hopkins?

  The following day brings no letup from the rain. Still without cell service, Joel spends the morning watching the flood levels rise in the street. Despite the evident seriousness of the emergency, there is no official word from the state authorities.

• 17:03Speaker 03

  Where things started getting dangerous was there's no official communication going out of like, hey, through these areas, go to somewhere safe, or things like that, where there was just none of that whatsoever.

• 17:15John Hopkins?

  But Joel is less concerned for his own safety than for the people who live next to the river. They're the ones facing the most immediate danger. Just before noon, he wades up the road to Silas's house.

• 17:29John Hopkins?

  There, the two brothers begin discussing whether they should head down the hill to see if anyone needs their help.

• 17:35Speaker 03

  Around midday, I meet up with my brother to kind of decide we're in a position where we can maybe help some people in the midst of this.

• 17:44John Hopkins?

  Another thing about living in the mountains, hundreds of miles from any coast, is that most of the locals here can't swim. Joel and Silas are no Olympians, but they're both able enough in the water. If they don't try to help, who will?

• 18:01John Hopkins?

  And so the brothers start getting themselves ready. They gather together what few useful supplies they can lay their hands on. Then, after saying goodbye to Silas's wife and children, they head out into the flood.

• 18:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, I brought one of his kids' pool floaties, like a little yellow swim ring, because that was the only flotation device we had. And we didn't have life jackets or anything. We had like a couple of ropes that we found lying around. I think I had a first aid kit. We were just like, well, this is what we have. You know, we're two able-bodied young men. We know how to swim, which that's more than pretty much anyone else in the town.

• 18:36John Hopkins?

  With their scant gear in tow, and with little understanding of what lies ahead, they set off across town.

• 18:43Speaker 03

  We had local friends from the churches and people we work with who we knew were to be close to the rivers were like, oh, hey, well, they probably need some help to evacuate their homes and save some of their possessions. You know, it's not like there's flood insurance there. A lot of these people, this, everything they have is in their home.

• 18:59John Hopkins?

  As the brothers approached the bottom of the hill, they begin to get a clearer picture of this unraveling disaster. Its complete pandemonium. The river has swelled to several times its usual size, engulfing the streets that lie nearest to it, inundating shops and houses. Hordes of people stream outside, wading through the ankle-deep water, carrying young children and bags of belongings in their arms. Trucks and motorcycles plow through the deluge, seizing their chance to escape before the flood rises any further.

• 19:34John Hopkins?

  There isn't an official anywhere in sight.

• 19:38John Hopkins?

  Fortunately, the river hasn't yet risen above the main bridge. Joel and Silas cross it, then make their way to the houses of some friends nearby.

• 19:47Speaker 03

  And we were able to help some friends of that grade. I remember like moving chunks of water through like some flooding streets, pushing some bikes to get it up to higher ground and things like that, and helping people get situated with somewhere with other friends in other churches where they could at least stay dry and have some food and things like that.

• 20:05John Hopkins?

  Once their friends are safely positioned on higher ground, Joel and Silas turn around and head for home.

• 20:12John Hopkins?

  Two hours have passed and the floodwater has risen to their waists. They wade back towards the bridge they crossed earlier. But before they can get there, they're flagged down by a gaggle of local schoolchildren shouting and waving their arms.

• 20:28Speaker 03

  They asked us to help because there were some people trapped in the school. It's along like one of the main roads, a two-story building. The ground floor is almost entirely underwater and there was these two guys stuck on the second floor, couldn't swim, and they were trapped there.

• 20:47John Hopkins?

  The brothers are exhausted from their earlier efforts, and with the flood getting worse, they need to get home. The bridge back to the other side of the town is still visible, but only by a few inches. If it disappears, they'll have no way to get back.

• 21:02John Hopkins?

  Still, they can't just leave these helpless people trapped. And so, with one last glance at the bridge, they turn and head towards the school.

• 21:18John Hopkins?

  It's about an hour later. Joel and Silas have strung a length of rope from the street to the school building, where two men are trapped on the second story.

• 21:30John Hopkins?

  The current surges around Joel as he feels his way along the slippery line, foul smelling floodwater lapping at his face.

• 21:38Speaker 03

  We're starting to get tired and the dangers start becoming realities. We're like, okay, you know, this water is totally brown. We're swimming in sewage, basically. Most of the housing have like cesspits. And so all these tanks obviously are flooded and now mixing in with this floodwater, which is already dirty. We're swimming in that. There's like furniture floating by, getting caught in the rope.

• 22:02John Hopkins?

  Eventually, palms roar and arms shaking, they reach the school building. The stranded men inside are terrified, shivering violently in their sodden shorts and t-shirts. With reassuring words and gestures, the two brothers guide the men into the water, then steer them gently back along the rope.

• 22:24Speaker 03

  As we're getting these two guys across, we're like yelling them like, is there anyone else stuck here that you know that needs help as well? And they did like, no, no, it's just us, just us.

• 22:33John Hopkins?

  They escort the two men to a safer spot. But just when they think their work might be done, they hear something. Turns out, there is a second school building, partially hidden by the first. And in this second building, there is a huddle of about 10 people, a mixture of adults and children, all screaming and waving their arms from the second floor as the rising water threatens to sweep them away. Joel and Silas grimly set about repeating the arduous process. They swim across with the rope, secure it in place, then begin escorting the terrified people across the watery divide.

• 23:14Speaker 03

  We set up one bridge from like the street to the first building. And then from that first building to the second building, we set up another rope to kind of help people pull them along. So with the women and children, like the Titanic, you know, women and children first, we ferry them across and it's very hard. They're panicked. They don't even know the sensation of being submerged in water totally. And so they're like holding on to the rope and clinging to everything for dear life while we're trying to like pull them along. But then there's a language barrier as well.

• 23:45John Hopkins?

  It's chaotic, noisy, a melee of frantic, rain-soaked limbs. Joel and Silas coax and cajole, urging the townspeople along the rope.

• 23:59John Hopkins?

  At last, they managed to shepherd all the women and children safely to the other side. There are still a few men stranded in the school. The two brothers are completely spent.

• 24:13John Hopkins?

  Ultimately, they are forced to make a tough decision.

• 24:17Speaker 03

  We were able to get the women and children to safety, and then end up abandoning the men.

• 24:25Speaker 03

  We're so physically tired by this point, like, struggling to keep myself above water, because you're constantly fighting against the current.

• 24:34John Hopkins?

  If they go back again, the risk to their own lives is enormous. And so, exhausted and soaked to the bone, Joel and Silas wade back towards the bridge.

• 24:47John Hopkins?

  But when they get there, they make an alarming discovery. The bridge, the only safe route to the other side, is gone, submerged beneath the roiling flood.

• 24:59John Hopkins?

  The brothers stare at the yawning expanse of water, its turbid, brown surface pockmarked by heavy rain.

• 25:07John Hopkins?

  Slowly, they both come to the same conclusion. In order to get to the other side, in order to reach their houses and return to Silas's family, they're gonna have to do something drastic.

• 25:20Speaker 03

  We should have made the decision to stay, honestly. And if anyone's in that situation, I would say, stay put where you're safe. But, I don't know, for one reason or the other, we felt we needed to cross.

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• 26:42John Hopkins?

  It's mid-afternoon on September 11, 2024.

• 26:46John Hopkins?

  In the mountains of eastern Myanmar, in the middle of a flooded town, brothers Joel and Silas wade through the shallows at the edge of the river, scouting around for the best place to try to cross.

• 26:58John Hopkins?

  Because the flood has now engulfed several streets on either side, the water is littered with obstacles. Some visible, some hidden. Treetops, telephone poles, barbed-wire fences, concrete walls. All lurk dangerously in the murky, muddy rapids.

• 27:17Speaker 03

  We kind of figured where the river is the widest, that's where the current is going to be the least dangerous. Where the building density kind of reduces a bit, where it's a bit more spread out housing, fields and things like that. That's a good area to cross.

• 27:33John Hopkins?

  After a while, Joel and Silas reach the widest section of river. And it is wide. A near-thousand-foot stretch of fast-flowing water, broken in places by half-submerged buildings and thick clumps of vegetation.

• 27:52John Hopkins?

  Daunting as it may appear, they agree that this is the place. Cautiously, the brothers step forward, easing themselves into the deep water.

• 28:04John Hopkins?

  In theory, the flow should be less furious here. But as soon as their feet are no longer touching the bottom, the current takes hold, whisking the young men downstream. With a flurry of kicks and strokes, they are just about able to steer themselves in a diagonal direction, aiming for calmer sections where they can grab hold of something and catch their breath.

• 28:27Speaker 03

  And so we're kind of like leapfrogging our way across to these like sections of strong current. As you hit the current, you kind of get pushed downstream a bit. And then you're trying to find somewhere I can get heat from here to here with the current. I can take a breath there and make our way, kind of hopscotching along the way.

• 28:44John Hopkins?

  As Joel approaches one clump of dense undergrowth, he reaches out and grasps the vegetation. Instantly, sharp, needling pain fires through his hands.

• 28:58Speaker 03

  Every single tree in our path was like a thorn tree. And so we're like getting catapulted by the current into these like thorn trees. But you're like, well, I don't want to hold on to this, but I also don't want to get pulled along by the current. So you're like clinging for dear life. That's when things like really start kicking and like, okay, now we're in danger.

• 29:16John Hopkins?

  As he clings to the branches of the tree, feeling its thorns slice into his skin, Joel looks around wide-eyed. It's as if the dangers have multiplied. Everywhere he looks, gnarled wooden stumps and sharp spars of rusty metal protrude from the water-like fangs. The roar of the flood in his ears is deafening. He's increasingly powerless, caught in a situation way beyond his control.

• 29:44Speaker 03

  We're now in the middle of this flood. We're surrounded by debris, hidden dangers. There's fallen fences and collapsed buildings. There's barbed wire underwater everywhere, probably. Tin roofing, which is obviously like razor sharp, especially if it's been like torn up. And it definitely felt like, oh, I'm very close to like my body just giving out.

• 30:06John Hopkins?

  But they're in the middle of the crossing. They can't turn back now. Joel pushes off from the thorn bush and thrashes his way across the next section of flood.

• 30:16John Hopkins?

  With each stroke, he could be impaled on a coil of razor wire or electrocuted by a downed power line. Instead, he careens into the remains of a fallen building, a tangled clump of concrete slabs and snapped wooden beams.

• 30:33John Hopkins?

  He grabs hold and clings on as the current claws at him from below.

• 30:38Speaker 03

  I could feel the current like pulling my legs under this kind of clump of debris. That was definitely, you know, quite scary feeling of if my muscles give out, if my strength gives out, I'm getting pulled under this and then I don't know what's happening. I think realistically, I could very easily died.

• 30:57John Hopkins?

  The brothers are now separated.

• 31:00John Hopkins?

  Silas is a short distance away downstream, pinned between the current and another clump of rubble. They call out across the divide, each reassuring the other that they're okay, that they feel just about strong enough to continue.

• 31:14Speaker 03

  In the moment, the adrenaline and the kind of focus of like, we just need to keep going, keep going, keep going. You're in the moment, you're fighting for your life. You're trying to think of how do I move forward from this? How do I get to safety? How do I keep surviving?

• 31:29John Hopkins?

  With trembling arms, Joel yanks his legs out from beneath the concrete slab. He pushes off again, letting the current carry into the next tree, the next toppled building, the next fence pole.

• 31:41John Hopkins?

  On and on, he and Silas forge their way across the river.

• 31:47John Hopkins?

  Finally, with muscles searing, they find themselves around 150 feet from the opposite bank, separated from their objective by two final stretches of fast-flowing water.

• 32:01Speaker 03

  And by this point, we can like see the end 50 meters away, but we also recognize like if we get caught in this is very much the end. The current is pushing us straight into like a section of debris that looks real dangerous. If you're caught in like barbed wire underwater, you're gonna drown quite painfully. That's where the current is pushing us.

• 32:21John Hopkins?

  They need a place to rest, a safe haven to regain their strength before attempting this final leg. As luck would have it, there is a house just downstream, and the floodwater has risen so high up its walls that Joel and Silas are able to swim straight onto the second-story balcony. They pull themselves up and collapse onto the tiled floor, much to the surprise of the homeowners sheltering inside, who stare in bewilderment at the two sopping wet strangers.

• 32:51John Hopkins?

  While Silas tries to communicate with the family, Joel peers over the wall at the final stretch they still need to swim. The current looks fierce, coursing powerfully over invisible dangers, creating waves and ripples. He looks up at the sky. It can't be long until nightfall. Attempting to swim across in the dark would be complete madness. They'll have to stay here for as long as they dare, recuperating as much as possible before making their final push.

• 33:25John Hopkins?

  Two hours pass. As they wait, trying to get some blood flowing again into their exhausted limbs, Joel inspects the water levels. For the first time, he notices that the flood seems to be slightly receding.

• 33:39John Hopkins?

  He can see things in the water that he couldn't before. Dangers gradually reveal themselves.

• 33:45Speaker 03

  There's a section of wall that we were gonna swim across, and but as the current goes down, we do notice that it's covered in shards of glass embedded there, and like, we were planning on swimming right across that. So thankfully, the water level goes down, we will see that.

• 34:01John Hopkins?

  It's a good thing they waited. Had they not, they would have unwittingly swam right across the glass-covered wall, shredding their bodies in the process. It's a bit of good luck, but they can't delay much longer.

• 34:14Speaker 03

  It's getting too dark now. We have to get across this current. We don't know what's gonna happen. We can't do anything in the night. The building we're on right now, cement construction, but it could very easily collapse in the middle of the night. That's a real possibility. We've seen other buildings collapsed already, so... There was a sense of like a ticking time bomb. It's now or never. We have to jump and try this.

• 34:46Speaker 00

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• 35:15Speaker 01

  The Lemonati has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything, even our music. That hit song named after the color of lemons? Not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now, 7-Up is fighting back with their new Lime Lemon Soda. Now lime comes first. 7-Up: Flip the Sep.

• 35:50John Hopkins?

  It's about 6:00 PM. Joel and Silas balance on the edge of the balcony wall, getting ready to jump.

• 35:58John Hopkins?

  They'll need to propel themselves several feet to clear a wall below, a wall strewn with shards of broken glass.

• 36:07John Hopkins?

  But even if they avoid that obstacle, who knows what lurks beneath the gloomy water beyond?

• 36:13John Hopkins?

  It's a risk they're gonna have to take. Silas goes first. The older brother bends his knees, then springs forward, landing with a splash several feet beyond the glass-topped wall.

• 36:28John Hopkins?

  Joel nervously adjusts his position. He plants his feet, sinks into a crouch, then pushes off sharply, hurling himself after his older brother.

• 36:48John Hopkins?

  A stench fills Joel's nostrils as he resurfaces, gasping for air, coughing up lungfuls of fetid floodwater. Before the current whisks them off, Joel and Silas start to swim, powering themselves forward towards the bank, now less than 150 feet away. They are drained, weak. And then they see a literal lifeline flapping in the current.

• 37:14John Hopkins?

  To their enormous relief, the brothers discover that someone has set up a rope from the flooded street to the dry ground. They grab hold and begin pulling themselves along it.

• 37:24Speaker 03

  I remember clawing my way along this. Your legs are like being pulled away by the current and you're just clinging on with the last little bit of strength.

• 37:34John Hopkins?

  Joel grits his teeth. His head drops forward, lank strands of hair tumbling into his eyes.

• 37:42John Hopkins?

  Everything in his body is screaming at him to let go of the rope, to relax his muscles and allow the water to take him.

• 37:48Speaker 03

  It's like at the end of a workout where you're trying to lift, even just trying to get up, you know, it's like your muscles are done and your mind's like, "Well, I should be able to do this." But your body's like, "No, we're not doing this. We can't do this anymore."

• 38:00John Hopkins?

  He looks up. Silas is a few feet ahead of him, battling the current. He watches the back of his brother's head, bowed with effort, knuckles whitening around the rope as he inches closer to dry land.

• 38:14John Hopkins?

  Joel drops his gaze. Focus. He places one hand after another, repeating the process again and again, until at last, he feels it.

• 38:27John Hopkins?

  Solid ground.

• 38:30Speaker 03

  For the first time in several hours, I'm feeling soil under your feet where you feel like, "Okay, I can stand. I can walk. I've made it."

• 38:39John Hopkins?

  The brothers weighed up the bank until the floodwaters recede to a shallow pool around their ankles. They make their way uphill, weaving through the waterlogged streets, bracing themselves for the damage their homes must surely have sustained.

• 38:54Speaker 03

  I remember getting to my house and we saw the water level had literally come up to with like an inch of the floor. It was like, my house was like up on a bit of like a cement block, a bit raised off the ground, and the water had come up like within an inch of the floor. So we're like, thank you, God. It really felt like a miracle.

• 39:19John Hopkins?

  Silas is reunited with his family, all of whom are safe. As well as Joel's house remaining intact, his truck and his laptop, both vital for his work, are also undamaged. On a personal level, the brothers have been deeply fortunate, but many others have not.

• 39:40John Hopkins?

  As reports of the devastation continue to emerge in the coming days, Typhoon Yagi is soon recognized as one of the most destructive tropical cyclones ever to hit Southeast Asia. Across Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, and beyond, the storm has wreaked untold havoc, inflicting roughly $14 billion worth of damage and tragically claiming around 1,000 lives.

• 40:03John Hopkins?

  In the wake of the flood, Joel and Silas's small town looks like a bomb site. Entire streets have been washed away, leaving heaps of rubble and mud where homes and businesses once stood.

• 40:15Speaker 03

  The next morning, we're able to start taking stock of the situation and we can see the devastation and the destruction that's been wrought, you know, like thousands of people don't have a home, don't have anywhere to stay. And that's when the kind of community effort kind of kicks in. It was really, yeah, heartwarming to see.

• 40:38John Hopkins?

  Even amidst all this destruction, in the days that follow, the community spirit reveals itself to be alive and well.

• 40:46John Hopkins?

  Joel and Silas try to play their part too.

• 40:49Speaker 03

  The next couple of days was just a lot of driving around, trying to organize food and clothing and things like that, and deliver to different impromptu community centers that had kind of cropped up where people were gathered, cooking food and distributing goods. I remember in the moment being really impressed to see how generous people were. Even for many of them, they had nothing, but what they had, they did give. Which was really cool to see.

• 41:19John Hopkins?

  Over the next few weeks, Joel throws himself into helping the townspeople recover after the flood. For the first time in months, he feels like he is truly able to make a real, measurable difference to people's lives.

• 41:32Speaker 03

  There was so much to be done and so many ways we were able to be helpful, I think. It's a time of feeling very useful and that's always very fulfilling. It's hard to feel depressed and discouraged when you're being useful and being able to meet people's needs very practically.

• 41:51John Hopkins?

  Helping out in the immediate aftermath of the disaster puts a pause on Joel's plans to leave Myanmar. But after a time, when he's done as much as he can, he reappraises the situation again and decides he will go ahead with the move to Australia after all.

• 42:08John Hopkins?

  Not that the decision is an easy one.

• 42:11Speaker 03

  I was always struggling with the instability. It was tough. There was a real sense of guilt I felt in leaving, of survivor's guilt of like, I get to leave and leave all this chaos behind.

• 42:24John Hopkins?

  Indeed, the devastating impact of Typhoon Yagi is still being felt in the affected regions today. The damage has left permanent scars, and the work to recover by locals and charities goes on.

• 42:42John Hopkins?

  Looking back now, Joel has a few possible theories to explain how he managed to survive his dramatic ordeal. A key element, he says, was a strong fraternal bond.

• 42:53Speaker 03

  Having my brother there with me, I mean, I don't think I would have made it without him practically and physically. Like, we were, you know, helping each other, holding out each other's hands, like pulling each other across certain sections and things like that. I think the combination of being there with my brother, I think the providence of God, and then also just the upbringing of like being used to changes and chaos and adapting to new challenges quickly. I think that combination helped me to survive.

• 43:19John Hopkins?

  A few weeks after the flood, Joel moves to Brisbane, where he starts working a more conventional nine-to-five job. It's an opportunity to reassess, to figure out what his next steps are. And while much remains uncertain, one thing has become crystal clear to him in the wake of the flood.

• 43:38Speaker 03

  There's a real sense of fulfillment and really gives your life meaning in helping people and helping people in need. That's what I've taken out of this whole experience. I desire to want to do that and figure out a way where I can make a living and have a career in that kind of work. Whatever that exactly is, I'm not sure yet, but that's what I'm thinking about. I want to continue to find ways to work with people and help people out in crisis.

• 44:14John Hopkins?

  Next time on Real Survival Stories, we meet Iowa farmer Eric Baker.

• 44:21John Hopkins?

  In June 2013, the 23-year-old is working full-time on his father's farm. As the youngest and fittest employee, Eric is left with some of the toughest tasks, including laboring inside a giant, swelteringly hot storage container full of hundreds of tons of corn.

• 44:39John Hopkins?

  And it's here that a strange and horrifying disaster unfolds. A bizarre series of events leads to Eric suddenly sinking into the mountain of grain, swallowed whole, like he's falling through quicksand.

• 44:54John Hopkins?

  Subsumed and crushed within around 1.3 million pounds of corn, he is buried alive, barely able to breathe, and heading towards the rotating blades of the container's machinery.

• 45:07John Hopkins?

  Any hope of escape seems impossible, as every movement crushes him further.

• 45:14John Hopkins?

  That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now without waiting and without ads by joining Noiser Plus.

• 45:24Speaker 00

  The award-winning American Airlines Advantage program rewards more than travel. It takes your whole life to new heights. Earn miles when you fly, as well as with thousands of your favorite brands. And then redeem those miles for flights, upgrades, and experiences worldwide. Advantage members also enjoy earlier boarding and free high-speed Wi-Fi in flight. Join for free and start earning towards your next adventure at aa.com/spotify.

• 45:53Speaker 01

  The Lemonade has spent decades keeping lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Their lemon agenda has infiltrated everything, even our music. That hit song named after the color of lemons? Not a coincidence. Big Lemon has been pulling strings in the industry for years. Think about it. But now, 7-Up is fighting back with their new Lime Lemon Soda. Now lime comes first. 7-Up, flip the sip.