VietNamNet Bridge - Not only urban areas in the lowlands but cities in highlands have suffered from heavy floods which have caused heavy damages and fatalities. 

On November 8, rescue workers found the body of Mai Quoc Huy, a 11th grader in Nha Trang City of Khanh Hoa province.

Huy was one of nine deaths in the southern part of the central region killed in a rain described as ‘not too heavy’. Eight were in Khanh Hoa province alone.

A rain would be enough to turn Hung Vuong, Nguyen Thien Thuat and Tran Quang Khai - the streets in the central district of Nha Trang City – into small streams. It would put the wards of Phuoc Long, Vinh Hai and Phuoc Hai under water by up to one meter.

The local residents on Phong Chau street of Phuoc Hai Ward would also suffer, because they are stuck between two road projects – Phong Chau overpass and Phuoc Hai urban area projects. As rainwater is blocked by the two construction sites, it would enter people’s houses.

“The construction site has blocked the rainwater drain,” said Cao Dinh Tan, a local man. Tan, who runs a wooden furniture shop, complained that he suffered a big loss from the latest rain because of the flood which spoiled wooden products.

The local residents in Phuoc Long Ward have been hit the worst. About 400 households there suffered from the inundation from November 1 to November 6. Some families have had to stay temporarily in tents as their houses were flooded. Their electric and electronic products were damaged because they could not carry them away when the heavy rains fell at midnight.

According to Vu Thi Mai Huong, chair of Phuoc Long Ward, Phuoc Long is situated in a depression area. The residential quarters there are surrounded by high soil piles generated by nearby construction sites, while the sullage pits are too small.

Nha Trang is a famous sea city for tourists. However, it does not welcome tourists: many tourists had to wade through inundated streets in early November when the historical rains came.

According to the Nha Trang City People’s Committee, floods mostly occur in the areas where large construction projects are under implementation. The local authorities have requested investors to create temporary canals around the land plots to ensure the normal water drainage to Tac and Quan Truong Rivers.

The floods caused by the heavy rains in early November were to be the most serious ever seen in Cam Ranh City and Cam Lam district in Khanh Hoa. More than 700 houses in the area were inundated.

Hoang Thien Nam, who has been living there since 1989, said he had never seen such a flood before.

NLD