Real Survival Stories - Flood in Myanmar: Hidden Dangers

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

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 [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The game begins in three, two, one. Ready or not two, here I come, only in theaters Friday. After surviving one deadly game, Grace and her sister Faith must now face off against four rival families in a fresh round of blood in games filled with more action, scares, laughs, and combustions. Starring Samara Weaving, Catherine Newton, Sarah Michelle Geller, and Elijah Wood. Ready or Not Two, here I come, only in theaters Friday. Get tickets now. At September 11th, 2024, in the Shan province of eastern Myanmar, a small mountain town is slowly disappearing beneath a torrent of brown floodwater. The local river, swelled by days of torrential rain, has burst its banks.

It now spills outwards, forming an unbridgeable swath that surges through the town. Buildings, entire streets are swept away, as the ground beneath the ground beneath. their concrete foundations dissolves into liquid mud. Trees are uprooted and sucked downstream, branches thrashing like drowning limbs. In the churning mass, bulky items tumble and swirl. Tuck tucks and motorcycles, brick walls and chain link fences, items of furniture and household belongings.

All are borne along by the fierce current. In the chaos, terrified townspeople seek refuge. 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. 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. 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. 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. That's when things like really start kicking and like, okay, now we're in danger. 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 as a crunch and a sudden sharp stabbing sensation as Joel collides with a tangle of tree branches. He instinctively grabs a handful of leaves and twigs grateful for the brief respite from the current, an opportunity to catch his breath. 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 his clothes. 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 onto this, but also don't want to get pulled along by the current. Cleaning for your life. 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. 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? If I had 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. 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. 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 you 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. 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. 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. And I could feel the current, like, pulling my legs under this kind of pump of debris. You're fighting for your life. You're trying to think of how, like, get to safety, how do I keep surviving? What can we do next?

How do we get through this? I'm John Hopkins. From the Noisor Podcast Network, this is real survival stories. It's the evening of September 9th, 2024 in Southeast Asia. Across the Shan province of eastern Myanmar, heavy rain drums against the corrugated metal rooftops of a small mountain town. For days now, much of Southeast Asia has been swamped by torrential downpours as tropical typhoon Yagi works its way across the region.

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. 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 flood. The consequences could be dire.

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

We were like not worried at all. 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? 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. and heads upstairs for a hot shower and a change of clothes. 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. Yet 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. 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 the 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. Now age 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 In a country blighted by social and political unrest, the work they do is challenging.

The broken is in the country, the extreme. It's a really broken society, a lot of broken families. So the young people are the ones that really suffering. Because they all have smartphones on 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 whole. 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, it was like, what's changed? What's the new playing field? What can we do in this? It did feel at times very discouraging because everything you're planning on doing, it felt like it always was taken away. 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. 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 them just to help them out and spend some time there. 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 a 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 he 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.

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

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I'm Ian Glenn, and this is Real Vikings. A monastery on a remote Scottish island overrun with pagan warriors. The dragon-shaped prowl of a longboat, cutting through Canada's icy waters. A Norse trader in North Africa. Exchanging furs for silver under a desert sun. The Vikings terrified the medieval world, yet they beguile us today. Who were they really? Real Vikings from the Noisor Podcast Network.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. It's around 5 p.m. on September the 10th. Joel sits in his brother's small kitchen, watching the rain lash against the window pane. Silas is checking the weather reports on his phone. Silas is a decade older than Joel, but despite this significant age gap, the two brothers share a close bond. He's 10 years older, so I've looked up to him my whole life. He's the cool, the brother that would take me to the arcade and is a unique relationship there. All day, Joel has been keeping tabs on the water levels out of the world.

outside, watching the rain collect in the street. The separate puddles, gradually joining up to form large, muddy lakes, the pavement's slowly sinking from view. 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. 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. 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. As 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 brother's start sending out texts, keeping their loved ones abreast of the developing situation. We're like texting our family, we're overseas, hey, you know, 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. This remote place suddenly seems more remote than ever. After eating dinner at his brothers, Joel makes the five-minute walk back to his own house. 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. 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 part way up one of these slopes, but there are many who live further down. closer to the river, where the flooding must be more severe.

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. He quickens his pace, anxious to get home and dry. The following day brings no let up 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. 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. 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. There, the two brothers' begin discussing whether they should head down the hill to see if anyone needs their help. 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. 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? 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' wife and children, they head out into the flood. They had brought one of his kids' pool floaties, like a little yellow swim ring, because that was the only flotation device we had. We didn't have life jackets or anything. They 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.

But, you know, we're two able-bodied young men. We know how to swim, which. That's more than pretty much anywhere else in the town. With their scant gear in tow, and with little understanding of what lies ahead, they set off across town. We had local friends from the churches and people we work with who we knew to be close to the river, so we're like, oh, okay, well, they probably need some help to evacuate their homes and save some of their possession. It's not like there's flood insurance there. A lot of these people, everything they have is in their home.

As the brothers approach the bottom of the hill, they begin to get a quick. clearer picture of this unraveling disaster. It's 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 plough through the deluge, seizing their chance to escape before the flood rises any further. There isn't an official anywhere in sight. 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. And we're able to help some friends evacuate. I remember like moving jugs 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 and other churches where They could be stay dry and have some food and things like that.

Once their friends are safely positioned on higher ground, Joel and Silas turn around and head for home. 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. They asked us to help because there was 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. 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.

Still, they can't just leave these helplessly people. trapped. And so, with one last glance at the bridge, they turn and head towards the school. 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. The current surges around Joel as he feels his way along the slippery line, foul-smelling floodwater, lapping at his face. 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, have flooded and now mixing in with this flood water, which is already dirty. We're swimming in that. There's, like, furniture floating by, getting caught in the rope. 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-shirt.

With reassuring words and gestures, the two brothers guide the men into the water, then steer them gently back along the rope. As we're getting these two guys across, like, yelling them like, is there anyone else stuck here that you know that needs help as well? And they didn't like, no, no, it's just us, just us. 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 ten 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 a rope, secured in place, then begin escorting the terrified people across. the watery divide. 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. We start with the women and children, like the Titanic. You know, women and children first, we bury 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 onto 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.

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

Ultimately, they are forced to make a tough decision. We're able to get the women and children to safety and then end up abandoning the men. We're so physically tired by this point, like struggling to keep myself above water, because you're constantly fighting against the current. If they go back again, the risk to their own lives is enormous. And so, exhausted and soaked to the bone, Joel and Silas weighed back towards the bridge. 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. The brothers stare at the yawning expanse of water, its turbid brown surface pockmarked by heavy rain. 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 the to Silas' family, they're going to have to do something drastic. We should have made a 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. When Westchap first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, One thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at Westjet.com slash 30 years.

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It's mid-afternoon on September the 11th, 2024. 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. Because the flood has now engulfed several streets on either side, the water is littered with obstacles. Some visible, some hidden. Tree tops, telephone poles, barbed wire fences, concrete walls,

all lurk dangerously in the murky, muddy rapids. 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. After a while, Joel and Silas reached 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. D daunting as it may appear, they agree that this is the place. Cautiously, the brothers step forward, easing themselves into the deep water. In theory, the flow should be less. furiously. 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're 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. 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 down the stream 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 hoppy scotching along the way. As Joel approaches one clump of dense undergrowth, he reaches out and grasps the vegetation.

Instantly, sharp, needling pain fires through his hands. 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, why don't want to hold onto this? I also don't want to get pulled along by the current. So you're like clinging towards your life. That's when things like really start kicking and like,

okay, now we're in danger. 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 fags. The roar of the flood in his ears is deafly.

He's increasingly powerless, caught in a situation way beyond his control. 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 it. like my body just giving out.

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. 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. He grabs hold and clings on. as the current closeted him from below. And 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 have very easily died.

The brothers are now separated. 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. In the moment, the adrenaline and the kind of focus of like, we just need to keep going, 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? 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 park. On and on, he and Silas forge their way across the middle. 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.

And by this point we can 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 a section of debris that looks real dangerous. If you're caught in like barbed wire underwater, you're going to drown quite painfully. That's where the current is pushing us. 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. 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 will 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. 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. He can see things in the water that he couldn't before. Dangerous gradually reveal themselves. There's a section of wall that we were going to swim across, but as the current goes down,

we do notice that it's covered in like shards of glass embedded there, and like we were planning on swimming right across that. So thankfully the water levels goes down, we're able to see that. It's a good thing they waited. And they're 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. It's getting too dark now. We have to get across this current. We don't know what's going to 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. It's about 6 p.m. Joel and Silas balance on the edge of the balcony wall,

getting ready to jump. They'll need to propel themselves several feet to clear a wall below. A wall strewn with shards of broken glass. But even if they avoid that obstacle, who knows what lurks beneath the gloomy water beyond, it's a risk that can 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. Joel nervously adjusts his position. He plants his feet, sinks into a crouch, then pushes off sharply hurling himself after his older brother. 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. 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. I remember like clawing my way along this. Your legs are like being... pulled away by the current and you're just like clinging on, we last little bit of strength. Joel grits his teeth. His head drops forward, lank strands of hair tumbling into his eyes.

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

For the first time in several hours, I'm like feeling soil under your feet where you feel like, okay, I can stand, I can walk, but I've made it. 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. 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. 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. As reports of the devastation continue to emerge in the coming days, Typhunyagi 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 a thousand lives.

In the wake of the flood, Joel and Silas' 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. The next morning, we 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 came. kicks in. It was really, yeah, hardwarming to see. Even amidst all this destruction, in the days that follow, the community spirit reveals itself to be alive and well. Joel and Silas try to play their part too. 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 have 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. It was really cool to see it. Over the next few weeks, Joel froze 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. There was so much to be done and so many ways we were able to be helpful, I think. Just 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. 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 a move to Australia after all. Not that the decision is an easy one. I was really struggling with the instability. It was tough. There was a real sense of guilt I felt in leaving of like survivors' guilt of like I get to leave and leave all this chaos behind. 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. 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. 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. A few weeks after the flood, Joel moves to Brisbane, where he starts working a more conventional 9-to-5 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. There's a real sense of fulfillment and really gives your life meaning in helping people and helping people in need. I think 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. Next time on real survival stories, we meet Iowa farmer Eric Baker. 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. And it's here that a strange and horrifying disaster unfolds. A bizarre series of events leads to Aric suddenly sinking into the mountain of grain, swallowed whole like he's falling through quicksand. 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. Any hope of escape seems impossible, as every movement crushes him further. That's next time on real survival stories. Listen right now without waiting and without ads by joining Noiser Plus. At Desjardin, our business is helping yours. We are here to support your business through every stage of growth, from your first pitch to your first acquisition.

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