Flooded Hanoi street

Since early July, Hanoi has had three major rainstorms and all of them caused flooding in the capital. The rain on July 25 flooded dozens of streets for a long time, causing congestion.

Many vehicles were flooded and died on Ly Thuong, Hai Ba Trung and Tran Hung Dao streets because of the high water level.

The rain on July 15 also flooded many streets in Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Dong Da and Cau Giay districts. After 6 pm, the rainfall on Truong Chinh, Ton That Tung, Nguyen Trai and many other streets rose by 0.3 to 0.5 metres.

Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company Director Vo Tien Hung said the rainfall exceeded the designed capacity of the sewers of 50mm per two hours.

He also blamed rapid urbanisation for more floodings. Hanoi still has 13 areas at risk of flooding this year.

Yen So Pumping Station has the capacity to deal with a huge amount of water but the channels and canals in the city have been encroached, filled up for residential housing or rubbish.

This is why Hanoi is getting flooded more often whenever it rains.

Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company leader urged the authorities to quickly complete the anti-flooding projects to help ease the pressure on the existing infrastructure.

Since 2015, Hanoi authorities have started many projects such as the Yen Nghia Pumping Station to deal with flooding in the western part of the city.

Yen Nghia Station will have the capacity to pump with 120 cubic metres per second downstream of the Nhue River to Day River.

Lien Mac complex will have the capacity to pump 170 cubic metres of water per second from the Nhue to Red River. However, those projects have been behind schedule.

As a result, western districts such as Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan, and Ha Dong are often flooded. When the water level in the Nhue River rises, it will cause widespread flooding.

Whenever there is heavy rain, the western part is often the hardest-hit by flooding.

Tien phong/Dtinews