The high tide on the Saigon River set a new record yesterday, 1.64 meters, the highest-ever level, submerging many areas Ho Chi Minh City in a sea of water, prompting concerned agencies to consider possible causes. The high tide was 0.04 meter higher than the level that was earlier forecasted by the Southern Hydro-Meteorological Station. At 5 pm Wednesday the tide reached the peak and overflowed into Ben Phu Dinh Street in District 8. Only 30 minutes later the entire street was flooded under more than 0.5 meters of water, causing problems for traffic and forcing pedestrians to wade across the street. An hour later, the street was even more deeply submerged, at 0.7 meters, causing hundreds of motorbikes to break down and blocking the traffic in the area. A similar situation occurred on many other streets such as Ben Binh Dong in District 8, Duong Tu Giang in District 5, Luong Dinh Cua in District 2, Kha Van Can in Thu Duc District, and Huynh Tan Phat in District 7. Residents on numerous streets in various districts had to use wooden boards or other materials to prevent floodwater from entering their houses.

The high tide also affected the operations of many schools, including preschools, like Vanh Khuyen pre-School in Phuoc Loc Commune, Nha Be District, where 360 children carried out their daily activities in the flooded premises.

Humans main cause of flooding Nguyen Minh Giam, deputy director of the Southern Hydro-Meteorological Station, blamed the higher spring tide on the discharge of water from the Dau Tieng reservoir on October 15. The flow of discharged water reached HCMC yesterday, the same time as the high tide. One more cause for the record tide was the strong northeast monsoon that has pushed more sea water to the river’s mouth, causing it to rise. Meanwhile, Ho Long Phi, director of the Climate Change and Water Management Center under the HCMC National University, told Tuoi Tre that the water discharge and the monsoon only partly affected the high tide intensity in HCMC. The main cause of the problem, he explained, is the increase in land filling and leveling recently carried out for construction. Such work has removed many spaces that should have been used for water storage, Phi said.

Poorly planned anti-flooding measures have also worsened the problem. Many areas, thanks to durable embankments, have become free from inundation, but at the same time higher tides flood other areas or worsen chronic flooding in flood-prone parts of the city. If these problems are resolved, the high tide in the city would only reach a maximum of 1.4 meters, Phi said. The highest tide in Vung Tau has increased by a few centimeters per year, while in HCMC, the increase has been 5-6 times higher. Experts argue that it is unreasonable to blame the flooding in HCMC on climate change, but human activities should be held responsible for the problem.

Vanh Khuyen pre-school in Phuoc Loc Commune, Nha Be District, was seriously flooded, affecting 360 children (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Nguyen Anh Dung, deputy director of the HCMC Anti-Flooding Center, said that many residents have thrown rubbish in manholes, actions that have partially blocked the drainage and caused inundation. Dung cited the drainage system with 10 manholes around the Cho Lon Bus Station, where he said half of the manholes have recently become clogged with garbage discharged by local residents, causing flooding in the area. When asked why flooding in the city has yet to be improved despite the billions of dong that has been invested in related works, Do Tan Long, head of the Drainage Management Division under the HCMC Anti-Flooding Center, said the fight against flooding cannot be done overnight, but it should be carried out according to suitable roadmap. The city’s drainage system has not been perfected, so it cannot withstand a combination of high tide, water discharged from hydropower reservoir, and rubbish discarded into manholes, Long said.