No end in sight for Saigon's flooding saga

A one-hour downpour on Monday afternoon flooded many streets in Districts 4, 7, 8 and Nha Be. Weather forecasters say more rain will come this week. The rainy season has just started and will last through October.

The flood-prone Huynh Tan Phat Street in District 7 is more than half a meter under water.

A man pushes his motorbike as his child watches vehicles on the street.

A child smiles on a motorbike in Nha Be District though her father does not find it funny. “It happened to me three times this month,” he said of his “dead” motorbike. “It’s miserable, and all we can do is to bear with it. There’s no one we can complain to,” he said.

Transporters wade through the dark water on Huynh Tan Phat Street.

Municipal workers place warning signs over manholes before they start pumping water.

 The city’s $440 million anti-flood project is scheduled to complete in April next year and save around 6.5 million people, or more than half of the city’s population, from constant flooding. But there have been concerns of delays as site clearance is not moving as fast as expected.