An Phu Dong 35 in District 12 is no minor street and in fact connects a national highway to major thoroughfares in the city.
The street stretches about 4 km long and intersects with National Highway 1 in District 12.
A section of more than 400 m has been chronically flooded since April, affecting 114 households on both sides.
Vo Thi Ngoc Lan, chairwoman of the local An Phu Dong Ward authority, said the section has been flooded because it has no drainage system. She added that the street’s high traffic density combined with the stagnant water has prompted the road’s quality to rapidly deteriorate even further.
In 2021 and 2022, the ward began upgrading a section of the road, but due to a lack of funding, the work has remained ineffective so far, she said.
Even though it wasn't raining, the road was still flooded by nearly half a meter of water on Monday afternoon.
In this photo, a woman riding a scooter must constantly dip her feet in the mini river's stagnant waters to avoid falling.
A tow truck pulls an overturned three-wheeled vehicle (called "xe loi," "xe lam" or "xe ba gac" in Vietnam) out of the flooded section with a crane.
Due to the floodwater, the vehicle's driver could not see a pothole in the street and drove straight into it before tipping over.
Nguyen Van That, a mechanic on An Phu Dong 35 Street, said most of his customers’ motorbikes were damaged in the floodwaters.
Though he’s one of the street’s lucky residents still able to operate his household business, That said he regularly stays up all night trying to prevent the street’s rising waters from inundating his home.
"Driving on this street is a challenge for all drivers because it is very easy to fall into potholes. We all wish for the street to be fixed soon," said truck driver Ngo Ngoc Anh (L).
A family shields their house with sandbags to prevent floodwaters from intruding.
Nguyen Thi Bong (R) said the ward and district authorities have held meetings with people living along the street several times but no solutions have been implemented yet.
Many household businesses have closed and moved away after the flooded street cut off their supply of customers.
Trucks and cars parked by the roadside to avoid the flooded street.
Chairwoman Vo Thi Ngoc Lan said that in July the ward proposed that the district use its budget to upgrade the road, but the district rejected the idea, citing a lack of public funding. The ward authority has since spent its time trying to convince affected households to contribute capital for the project.
She said it has now been agreed upon by all parties that the work will be done using a combination of public funding and money contributed by the affected households.
It is expected that in November, the district will spend more than VND1.9 billion (US$77,000) to upgrade the road and local people will contribute VND1.3 billion to build sewers.
