Explaining the cause of widespread flooding in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that the monsoon combined with the high tide cycle at the end of October caused the tide level to peak at +1.82m, exceeding alarm level III (+1.6m), causing deep flooding in many low-lying areas in the area.

Mr. Hoang Phuc Dung, Deputy Head of Technical Infrastructure Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, answered the press on the afternoon of October 30.

On the afternoon of October 30, at a press conference to inform about the socio -economic situation in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Hoang Phuc Dung, Deputy Head of Technical Infrastructure Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, said that from October 20 to 25, the City recorded deep flooding at the intersection of Vo Van Kiet - Ho Hoc Lam, Pham Van Chieu, Le Duc Tho, Phan Van Hon, National Highway 22, Binh Quoi - Thanh Da, Tran Xuan Soan...

In Thanh Da peninsula area, the flooding situation is more serious due to the terrain being lower than the tide level, the natural ground of the area only reaches an average elevation of +1.0m to +1.4m, some locations are still about +0.5m low. When the high tide reached +1.82m, the water overflowed the embankment and retaining wall, causing flooding from 40cm to 100cm deep. Many households, especially ground-floor apartments in Thanh Da residential area, were severely affected in their daily life and travel. In addition, the project to prevent landslides and complete the embankment of Thanh Da peninsula is currently under construction and has not been completed synchronously, making some vulnerable sections susceptible to flooding when the tide is high.

According to Mr. Hoang Phuc Dung, the high tides during this period are in accordance with the natural law, usually occurring from August to December of the lunar calendar. However, at the end of October this year, the high tides coincided with the strong northeast monsoon, causing the water level to rise quickly and higher than the average level of previous years. This is the main cause of this deep flooding.

Ho Chi Minh City has had many floods that have disrupted people's lives.

To cope with the next high tides, Mr. Hoang Phuc Dung said that the City is implementing two groups of solutions including: promoting maintenance and repair of drainage lines; dredging sewers and manholes, increasing drainage capacity; organizing rain-tide monitoring, collecting garbage at water intakes; operating 388 tide-prevention valves at discharge gates to limit water overflow into the drainage system; operating 17 mobile pumping stations, with capacity from 168m³/hour to 2,000m³/hour, combined with 10 large pumping stations and tide control sluices such as Binh Trieu, Binh Loi, Rach Lang, Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe, Thanh Da, Me Coc... to reduce flooding according to safe and effective procedures.

In the long term, Ho Chi Minh City will speed up the progress of key flood control projects; complete embankments to protect riverside residential areas, especially in the Thanh Da - Binh Quoi area; and strengthen coordination between infrastructure units and local authorities to promptly handle flooding issues.

"The Department has also advised people in low-lying areas to monitor high tide forecasts, limit travel during peak tide hours, and proactively raise their assets to ensure safety while waiting for tide control projects to be completed and put into effective operation," Mr. Dung added.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/van-de-quan-tam/ly-giai-nguyen-nhan-tp-ho-chi-minh-bi-ngap-tren-dien-rong-20251030183647828.htm