Saigonese call it a day with season's heaviest downpour

By Huu Khoa, Quynh Tran June 16, 2020 | 07:45 am PT

Traffic chaos reigned as the heaviest rainfall of the season hit Saigon Tuesday afternoon and commuters were stuck in heavily flooded streets.

Lasting for more than one hour to create a rainfall amount of 120 millimeters, a heavy rain that arrived near the peak time when people return home from work and schools on Tuesday sent streets in districts 1, 2, Binh Thanh and Phu Nhuan under water, causing a dead engine for a series of motorbikes and automobiles as seen in this photo taken on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh.

A motorbike has broken down in knee-deep waters on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh District. The downpour brought rainfall of 120 mm in little more than an hour, inundating many streets in Districts 1, 2, Binh Thanh and Phu Nhuan.

A man manages to stay balanced as waves keep smashing against his motorbike.

A man manages to stay balanced as heavy waves from a running car smash against his motorbike.

[A girl clings on a door frame to move along a sidewalk on Nguyen Huu Canh Street. She was knocked down by the waves at last.

A girl clings to a door frame as she struggles to move on Nguyen Huu Canh Street. She was eventually knocked down by the waves created by traffic on the flooded street.

A woman falls as she drives into a pothole right in front of a running car. Fortunately the car was moving slowly and stopped just in time.

A car gets stuck in the middle of the flooded street after its engine was kill. The driver has got help from locals around to move it.

A driver seeks help as his car breaks down in the middle of a flooded street.

A man holds a number plate of a car he picked up from the flood.

This is real misery, every single time it rains, there’re floods, and the water just flows into our houses. We only wish for the authorities to have some solution to save us from this suffer, Nguyen Van Nhieu said as he waits for the flood to go away while sitting in front of his house on Nguyen Huu Canh Street.

"This is real misery, every single time it rains, there’s flooding, and the water just flows into our houses. We only wish the authorities come up with some solution to save us from this suffering," said Nguyen Van Nhieu as he sat glumly in front of his house on Nguyen Huu Canh Street.

A section of Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District is packed with lines of vehicles that moved inches by inches in water.

Jam-packed traffic inches along an inundated section of Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District.

A tailback of more than two kilometers along Dien Bien Phu Street, lasting from the Hang Xanh Roundabout to the Saigon Bridge.

More than two km of heavy traffic along Dien Bien Phu, from the Hang Xanh Roundabout to the Saigon Bridge.

A man carries his suitcase along Dinh Bo Linh Street. He has to abandon his drive and wade through water to get into the Mien Dong (Eastern Region) Bus Station from where passengers travel to localities in Vietnam’s southeast, the southcentral and the Central Highlands.

A man carries his suitcase along Dinh Bo Linh Street. He has had to get off the vehicle that was carrying him to get to the Mien Dong (Eastern Region) Bus Station from where passengers travel to localities in Vietnam’s southeast, central and northern regions.

Motorcyclists choose an alley on Nguyen Xi Street of Binh Thanh to avoid traffic jams on the main streets.

Motorcyclists choose a flooded alley off Nguyen Xi Street of Binh Thanh District to avoid traffic jams on the main street.

As she finishes walking her motorbike, which has her daughter sit on the front, out of a submerged alley, Thuy makes some phone calls to see if she could find anyone to fix her dead motorbike. I can’t walk it anymore. Such flooded streets and heavy congestion like this is too much to handle, she said.

As her visibly unhappy daughter sits on the motorbike whose engine has died, Thuy stops after walking the vehicle out of an inundated alley.
She is on the phone, trying to find someone to fix her bike. "I can’t walk it anymore. This is too much to handle."