Downpours from 3pm to 7pm together with high tide on November 7 prompted flooding in Ho Chi Minh City and brought traffic in the city to chaos for several hours.
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| Rainwater floods Thoai Ngoc Hau Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District on the afternoon of November 7 (Photo: SGGP) |
Many roads in districts 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11, and Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Thu Duc, and Tan Binh districts become rivers as they were submerged under about 0.3-0.5 meter of rainwater.
The heaviest floods were seen on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh District, Luong Dinh Cua and Nguyen Duy Trinh streets in District 2, Huynh Tanh Phat and Nguyen Thi Thap streets in District 7, Kha Van Can Street in Thu Duc District, and Lac Long Quan, Luy Ban Bich and Hong Bang streets in Tan Binh District.
Vehicles could barely move in the floods, and many cars and motorbikes broke down, causing traffic gridlock on the Sai Gon Bridge and many streets.
Motorcyclists had to push their motorbikes across the streets, pedestrian had to hold hands together to walk in floodwater otherwise, they would fall down, while cars and trucks stood still following one another for several hours.
Traffic police seemed helpless to regulate the transport to ease the traffic chaos.
Rain water levels inundated petroleum stations near the Mien Dong Bus Station, making pumping of the fuel have to be paused.
According to the HCMC Flood Prevention Program Management Center, about 30 areas suffered heavy flooding, with water levels reaching up to 0.5 meters, during tides on November 5, 6, and 7.
The center said the floodwater levels at Phu An station on the Sai Gon River were 1.53 meters on November 6 and 1.56 meters on November 7, exceeding warning level 3 of 1.5 meters, and would reach 1.58 meters on November 8, the highest level for over 50 years.
The high tide on November 7 also caused severe waterway traffic jam on the Sai Gon River in the Binh Loi Bridge area that lies between Binh Thanh and Thu Duc districts.
The rising water levels on the Sai Gon River during high tide made the Binh Loi Bridge too low to offer navigation clearance for over 100 barges carrying sand and stones traveling between the city and Binh Duong Province.
The bridge has a navigation clearance of 2 meters at normal water levels, at during high tides, this is reduced to 1.2-1.5 meters.
The barges could begin to go through the bridge at 1pm when the tide fell.
There will be an increase in navigation on the river due to high demands in construction till the end of this year, while tides are forecast to continue to happen, therefore, there will be more waterway traffic jams on the river in this area.
In the morning of the day, the tide overflowed dikes in Thanh Loc Ward, District 12, inundating 200 hectares of vegetable farms and apricot gardens of 50 households and many houses.
Many alleys in the area were submerged under 0.5 meter of floodwater.
