High tides on the Saigon River over the past few days have flooded Ho Chi Minh City streets, adding to the city's plethora of seemingly insurmountable traffic troubles.
According to the Southern Region Hydro-meteorological Center, the tide started rising several days ago and reached a peak of 1.62 meters on Thursday morning, lower than the record it set October this year.
Many streets were under 30-40 centimeters of water Wednesday morning, which caused gridlock during rush hour.
The worst-hit areas were districts 2, 7, 8, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and Thu Duc.
Many motorbikes broke down and people had to push them in knee-deep water.
On October 20, the tide in HCMC reached a 61-year record high at 1.68 meters, far higher than predicted. That level broke the historic high record of 1.59 meters recorded last year.
The high tides submerged a series of streets under half a meter of water, causing disorder. An embankment section in Binh Thanh District broke and most embankments in suburban areas overflowed with water, causing severe flooding.