Ho Chi Minh City's degraded drainage system, small pipes, heavy rain in a short period of time... cause high terrain areas such as Go Vap and Thu Duc to always be deeply flooded.
After a two-hour rainstorm on the morning of October 10, many streets around Thu Duc market such as Duong Van Cam, Ho Van Tu, Dang Thi Ranh... were deeply flooded, causing many vehicles to stall and water to flood into houses on both sides of the road. Occasionally, cars passing by created waves on the road, causing motorcyclists to fall.
People wade through water up to their motorbike wheels, surrounded by floating trash on Duong Van Cam Street, Thu Duc City, on the morning of October 10. Photo: Quynh Tran
Despite using a half-meter-high iron plate to block the front door of her house on Duong Van Cam Street, Nguyen Thi Huong, 45, had to use a plastic bucket to scoop water out to avoid damaging her furniture. "This street floods every time it rains heavily. I have raised the ground many times but the water still gets into my house," said Huong.
Ms. Huong said that flooding in the area has lasted for nearly ten years. Dozens of households around her house have had to raise their floors many times, install stairs, and turn their houses into basements to adapt to the constant flooding.
10 km away, Le Duc Tho Street, Go Vap District was also submerged in water. Many people got soaked, wading through the water to get their dead motorbikes repaired. Water also flooded the People's Committee headquarters and the medical center of Ward 13 (Go Vap).
Having sold groceries on this street for nearly 20 years, Ms. Mai said she was used to seeing these images. Before the rain, she proactively placed her goods on iron shelves and used a wooden board covered with a tarpaulin to block the door. However, water still seeped into the house through the cracks, forcing her to use a bucket or a rag to squeeze out the water.
"Since the beginning of the rainy season, the number of times the road has been flooded is countless. There was a period of heavy rain for many days, I had to borrow a pump to drain the water in the house," said Ms. Mai.
The house is raised 1.2 m above Duong Van Cam Street, Thu Duc City, to avoid flooding. Photo: Quynh Tran
A representative of the Go Vap District People's Committee said that Nguyen Van Khoi, Le Duc Tho, Le Van Tho, Phan Huy Ich, Pham Van Chieu streets... are often flooded, affecting thousands of households in wards 8, 9, 11, 13 and 14. Before the rainy season, the district dredged and cleared the sewers but still could not cope.
Meanwhile, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Technical Infrastructure Management Center, the average rainfall at measuring stations in the city in the first half of this year decreased by about 30% compared to the same period in 2022. However, heavy rain was concentrated in a short period of time, causing localized flooding.
Statistics show that 25 roads were flooded due to rain, concentrated in Go Vap and Thu Duc City, which have been flooded for many years such as Nguyen Van Khoi, Le Duc Tho, Pham Van Chieu, Thao Dien, Quoc Huong, Dang Thi Ranh, Duong Van Cam, Kha Van Can, La Xuan Oai...
According to the agency, the above areas were flooded because the sewer system was old and narrow, while many routes had steep slopes and low-lying terrain compared to the surrounding areas. This led to heavy rains, water from many places rushing in, overloading the sewer system. Measures that have been implemented such as maintaining and repairing degraded sewer locations and dredging to clear the flow have not been effective.
"Before 2000, rain lasting 3 hours with an average rainfall of 95 mm only occurred once every 5 years. But recently, rain of more than 100 mm has become more frequent, even with only one hour of rain, the rainfall amount can reach 150 mm, exceeding the drainage capacity," said Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Minh Phu, Deputy Head of Technical Infrastructure Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction.
According to Professor Dr. Le Huy Ba, former Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Environmental Management (Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry), the increasingly severe flooding in the city is a consequence of the rapid "concretization" process that disrupts the natural balance and regulation.
Along with that, the drainage planning in the city is not systematic, the situation of encroachment on canals, littering... blocking the flow is very common. This causes even places with high terrain such as Thu Duc, Go Vap, to be frequently flooded recently.
Waves knock down a motorcyclist crossing La Xuan Oai Street, Thu Duc City during a rainstorm in mid-August. Photo: Quynh Tran
Regarding solutions, Professor Ba said that the city should focus on building regulating lakes, utilizing canals, parks, etc. to reduce flooding during the rainy season and store water during the dry season. The city needs to invest in larger drainage culverts to accommodate the changing context of unpredictable rain and high tides.
The Department of Construction said that in Go Vap district, there is a plan to implement a series of anti-flooding projects, with a total cost of more than VND1,000 billion. Among them, there is a project to build a drainage system of more than 5 km on Nguyen Van Khoi and Le Van Tho streets, with a total investment of VND353 billion, expected to be completed in 2025. In addition, 5 projects to build and renovate drainage systems on neighboring streets have been approved in principle and the city is balancing capital for implementation.
Thu Duc City will also invest in a project to renovate a drainage system longer than 1.2 km, installing round sewers with a diameter of 1-1.2 m on both sides of the four routes Duong Van Cam, Dang Thi Ranh, To Ngoc Van and Ho Van Tu around Thu Duc market.
At the same time, Vo Van Ngan Street has been built with a total investment of more than 248 billion VND. However, the project is behind schedule due to the contractor's lack of capacity. The locality is looking for another unit to replace it to complete the project in 2024.
Gia Minh - Dinh Van
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