Vital routes in the capital were 30-50 cm underwater on Thursday morning, after rains poured non-stop from Wednesday night.
Half of the Nguyen Trai Street section in front of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam National University is inundated, severely impeding traffic.
Meteorology institutions recorded rainfall of 105 mm from midnight to 6 a.m. in Hoang Mai District, the highest among all Hanoi districts. Ha Dong saw rain levels at 70 mm, while other districts like Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, Ba Dinh and Nam Tu Liem all received more than 60 mm rainfall.
In the suburbs, My Duc District received 280 mm rains, and Ung Hoa 180 mm.
A clothes shop on Nguyen Trai Street has erected planks to block the water from entering the basement.
The roads leading towards downtown areas, like Quang Trung, Tran Phu and Nguyen Trai, were heavily congested with motorbikes, cars and public buses.
All four lanes of Nguyen Xien Street are flooded. Vehicles are confined to one side of the road, where it is least flooded.
Several people abandoned their vehicles to seek shelter underneath the bridge on Nguyen Xien, waiting for the water to recede.
On Le Quang Dao Street, several road sections were half a meter underwater, stranding hundreds of cars amid the road.
"My truck's engine died over an hour ago. The water has not receded much," a truck driver said, adding that he has called for help, but still not knowing the exact time frame when the truck could be taken out of the flooded area.
On To Huu Street of Ha Dong District, several motorbikes had to be taken onto elevated areas near the bus stop to prevent their engines from shutting down.
The route from the Le Van Luong, To Huu underpass to the Luong The Vinh intersection did not suffer from severe flooding, but the traffic was jammed for four hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
A man tries to ride his motorbike through a severely flooded section of To Huu Street.
The plains and midlands of northern Vietnam, including Hoa Binh, Son La, Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang and Thanh Hoa provinces, will see heavy rains on Thursday, with rainfall between 50-150 mm, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
