Vehicles wade floodwater on a street in HCM City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) - High tideshave exceeded warning level three of six, submerging Ho Chi Minh City streetsand causing terrible traffic congestion.
The tides have flooded several streetsand alleys since December 6. The city’s central area, moreover, experiencedrising tides for the first time.
Huynh Tan Phat street in district7, Le Van Luong street in Nha Be district, Ho Ngoc Lam street inBinh Tan district and Vo Van Kiet avenue were among spots severelyaffected.
Business activities were suspended andhomes and assets were damaged. Hundreds of vehicles stalled due to flood water,causing traffic jams.
District 2’s Thao Dien commune, a placeof modern high-rise apartments and a hub of the city’s expatriate community,witnessed the same situation. Some of the many flooded streets included QuocHuong street, street 41 and 65.
Responding to the rising tides, peopleset up simple anti-flood systems for their homes, using sandbags and Styrofoamboxes, which had little effect.
Ton Thi Bay of Nha Be districtcomplained to Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper about the risingtides’ consequences.
“Dealing with the tides is exhausting.I feel like I am living in the Mekong Delta, not in the city,” she said.
HCM City has invested nearly 2,500billion VND (110 million USD) in flood prevention projects in 2017. However,the projects have brought little improvement as the city has faced severeflooding due to rising tides, water discharge and torrential rains recently.
At the sixth session of the HCM CityPeople’s Council on December 4, experts suggested massive urban development andskyscraper construction contributed to the situation.
Deputy Nguyen Van Xuan of Binh Thanh districtcited Nguyen Huu Canh street as an example.
With five residence complexes and morethan 18,000 apartments, this area has become the most severely flooded spotof HCM City. Moreover, the huge population and traffic influx havemade the street subside and destroyed its drainage system, leading to frequentwaterlogging, according to a report issued by HCM City Department of Transport.
The Southern Hydro-MeteorologicalStation said that, under the effect of strong winds on the East Sea (SouthChina Sea), the tide level on Sai Gon – Dong Nai river system had risen quicklyin the last two days and reached its peak of 1.68m, 0.22m higher than thewarning level three, on December 6 morning.
The water level is expected to decreasein the next days but remain high.
The Sai Gon River inthe southern province of Binh Duong has reached a height of1.62m, its highest point in 66 years, causing serious disruption to local lifeand challenging flood prevention strategies, local authorities said.
The water level rise wasintensified by continuous rain for the last two days. It has now surpassed thelevel of alarm by 0.32m and is 0.03m higher than last year’s record.
It has destroyed parts ofthe Sai Gon River bank with cracks three metres long appearing on the bank,canals and sewage gates, causing water to overflow on about 110m of the bank,according to the Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Rescue in theprovince’s Thu Dau Mot City and the Centre for Rural Clean Water Exploitationand Irrigation Investment.
About 70ha of agriculturalproduction land and 510m of roads were damaged causing inconvenience for 460households in the affected area. Floods of between 0.1-0.6m occurred everywherein the city.
Vu Ngoc Thin, deputydirector of Binh Duong’s Irrigation Department, said the department hadcoordinated with the Disaster Prevention and Rescue Committee of Thuan An Townin Thu Dau Mot City and other local authorities to mobilise all materials anddeploy forces to deal with the damage caused by the rising water level.
To prevent floods that willlikely result from the tide increase, Thin said, the standing office of theprovincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Rescue has requestedits branch in Thu Dau Mot City to take all necessary measures to help localsstabilise their lives as quickly as possible.-VNA
VNA
