Heavy rainfall accompanied by high tides flooded many major streets and caused traffic jams in some places in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday morning.

City residents struggled to drive through floodwaters to go to work or take their kids to school on time. “I had to swim to work,” a resident lamented.

Hoa Binh and Lac Long Quan streets in district 11 near Tan Hoa – Lo Gom environmental project were under deep water. Flooding caused many vehicles in this area to break down.

Streets that were seriously submerged included Tan Hoa, Kinh Duong Vuong, Tan Hoa Dong, and An Duong Vuong streets in District 6 and Binh Tan district, and Chu Van An, Dinh Bo Linh, and Bui Dinh Tuy in Binh Thanh.

In District 7’s Tan Thuan Dong ward, many areas were submerged by knee to waist-deep floodwaters.

Workers at Tan Thuan export processing zone in District 7 had to wade through floodwaters surging through the streets to go home after work.

In Thu Duc district, thousands of residents drove through the seriously-flooded Kha Van Can street to reach downtown for work. Many residents in Thu Duc said this is the worst flooding so far this year.

There was serious traffic congestion from Cay Go roundabout to Phu Lam roundabout on district 6’s Kinh Duong Vuong street, the gateway to the Mekong Delta bus station.  It took about one or two hours for vehicles in this area to drive through the flooded streets to the bus station.