Hoi An Ancient Town in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam is heavily-flooded by the rising rivers, forcing residents and travelers, including foreigners, to travel on small boats.

The province’s two rivers, Thu Bon and Vu Gia, have seen water levels rising over the past several days, flowing into and submerging many areas in Hoi An City, including Hoi An Ancient Town, Tuoi Tre Thu Do (Capital’s Youth) reported.  

As a result, the water level of the Hoai River, a branch of the Thu Bon River, located near the heart of the ancient town, has also gone up, worsening the flooding there.

At 9:00 am on Tuesday, water in the Thu Bon River kept surging, continuing to flood the ancient town and other localities.

Many roads in Hoi An Ancient Town such as Nguyen Thai Hoc, Bach Dang, Nguyen Phuc Chu, Le Loi, and Chau Thuong Van were heavily flooded.

Meanwhile, two roads along the Hoai River, Bach Dang and Nguyen Phuc Chu, were submerged under three meters of water. 

As the flooding remained on Tuesday at noon, with many pedestrian streets in the ancient town deeply inundated, small boats were used as an effective means of transport for both locals and foreign travelers, as recorded by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Residents on the banks of the Hoai River used their small vessels to provide foreigners with ‘boat tours’ of Hoi An Ancient Town.

As such, the scene of foreigners hiring local residents to take them around by boat has become common over the past few days in the old town, which was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. 

The flooding is considered severe since it nearly hit the flood peak recorded here in 2018.

Mai Thanh Chuong, a photographer specialized in Hoi An Ancient Town, has exclusively provided Tuoi Tre with a series of photos of the ongoing flooding in the town.

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