A heavy downpour on Monday night left Ho Chi Minh City streets flooded and congested Tuesday morning.

Water did not recede in the low areas in Binh Thanh District, causing congestion in a number of its main streets. Vehicles on the Hanoi Highway that leads to HCMC’s neighboring provinces also lined up due to traffic gridlock.

Congestion also happened in the streets of Tan Binh and Tan Phu districts.

Le Thi Xuan Lan, officer of the Southern Hydrometeorology Station, told Thanh Nien heavy downpours to mark the start of the rainy season also fell on Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh and Long An provinces.

The rainfall measured in HCMC areas ranges between 50 and 120 millimeters Monday evening. The rainy season for Ho Chi Minh City typically begins in May and ends in late November.

Professor Le Van Trung, director of the Geomatics Center of the Vietnam National University of HCMC, recently studied the flooding problems and identified 95 flood prone areas in the city.

 

He highlighted many problem areas such as newly built streets not having drainage systems and rapid urbanization over rice fields that once surrounded Hoi Chi Minh City.  

 

Trung claims that flood prevention has been one of the biggest preoccupations of authorities and large-scale work has been carried out including construction of new sewers, repair of existing drainage systems, excavation of canals,  and reinforcement of river banks.

 

However, Vietnamese authorities may be fighting an uphill battle against Mother Nature.

 

Vietnam is in the top five most affected countries by rising sea levels and some of the largest cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Hue city, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Vungtau are directly impacted.