Vietnam’s Hanoi-Saigon railway, sections of which were paralyzed following a severe downpour last week in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue, will resume on Monday afternoon as high tides are forecast to flood Ho Chi Minh City.

Torrential rains that began last Friday afternoon blanketed the entire central provinces of Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue in as much as three meters of water, killing 21 people and immobilizing the country’s north-to-south train services.

Twenty-nine sections of railway were completely inaccessible due to flooding and landslides caused by the downpour, while train stations in the area were also damaged with ten passenger trains and 12 freight trains delayed by the weather, said Ta Manh Thang, head of the traffic safety department at national train operator Vietnam Railways.

One SE19 train en route to southern Vietnam carrying 142 passengers, 96 of whom were foreigners, was forced to stop midway and pull back to Le Son Train Station in Tuyen Hoa District, Quang Binh Province.

Doi Sy Hung, deputy general director of Vietnam Railways, announced on Sunday that 25 out of 29 paralyzed sections of the railway had been repaired to allow trains to cross at a speed of five kilometers per hour.

The repair work at the remaining four sections is expected to be completed at 6:00 pm on Monday afternoon as maintenance workers continue to work day and night at the site, Hung said.

“However, the repair is only a temporary measure to allow trains to pass at a low speed. Sections of the railway that were damaged by landslides or swept away by floodwaters will take months or even a whole year to be properly restored,” the deputy general director said.

Other national north-to-south routes cut off by the weather resumed on Saturday, deputy head of the traffic safety department at Vietnam Railways Tran Ba Dat told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

In Ho Chi Minh City, tidal water is forecast to peak on Monday afternoon, with inundation likely along at least nine routes into the city, causing immense challenges to peak hour commuters, according to the Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center for the Southern Region.

Water levels are expected to reach 1.63 meters at 5:00 pm and peak at 1.66 meters at 6:00 pm, causing flooding in low-lying areas, according to the forecasting center.

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