12-hour downpour floods Phu Quoc roads, causes evacuations

The downpour lasted from late Saturday night to Sunday morning in Cay Thong Trong, Cay Thong Ngoai and Ben Tram hamlets, which are usually flooded every time it rains heavily.

A woman stands in her flooded house in Cay Thong Trong Hamlet of Cua Duong Commune on Phu Quoc Island, July 13, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Duong Dong

A woman named Nga said the water was nearly a meter deep in some places and entered people’s houses.

Many had 20-30 cm of water inside, damaging belongings and forcing them to stay up all night bailing the water out.

Thang of Ben Tram was worried because the water levels were rising quickly in streams near his house.

“It has never not flooded this badly in the past,” he said.

He blamed it on an excessive construction using concrete, which is reducing percolation of rainfall into the ground, and encroachment into rivers and streams, narrowing their flow.

Soldiers wade through a flooded street on Phu Quoc Island to carry a patient to hospital, July 14, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Duong Dong

Phu Quoc City leaders said they have mobilized personnel to help people move their belongings.

In extremely flooded areas, authorities will also evacuate people to prevent danger.

The army and police have been deployed to assist people.

According to the Kien Giang hydrometeorological station, the province that is home to the island, a tropical depression in the East Sea is bringing the rains.

Early on Sunday morning rainfall of 100-120 mm fell in one hour in many parts of the island.

 

 

12-hour downpour floods Phu Quoc roads, causes evacuations

Mưa từ khuya tới sáng, Phú Quốc ngập thành sông

In recent years Vietnam’s first designated island city has experienced rapid urbanization, with many houses and large projects reducing the size of its ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams, and encroaching on its drainage network.

As a result, it often suffers from flooding during heavy rains, affecting people’s lives, the economy and tourism.