Although authorities in Ha Noi have made repairing the city’s water drainage system a priority, floods are inevitable during the rainy season, according to a recent survey by the Water Drainage Company.
The survey revealed that a one-hour 50mm rain causes severe flooding, especially when a storm lasts for hours.
Company representatives said flood prevention like dredging lakes and rivers, consolidating drainage systems and building new channels would be effective in mild weather, but would fail to stop floods caused by monsoon rains or big storms.
It is estimated that nearly 30 streets in the city, including major routes like Phan Boi Chau, Tran Quoc Toan, Phung Hung, Cao Ba Quat, Nguyen Khuyen, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Nguyen Cong Tru and Ngo Thi Nham, will be covered in water time and time again in the coming months.
The build up of water is partially caused by the fact that many lakes and ponds that held flood waters at bay no longer exist in the capital, said Nguyen Le, the company’s deputy general director.
Parks and fields that soak up water like sponges were no longer as plentiful as they used to be either, he said.
“Areas of vegetation that can absorb water in the city has considerably dropped in the past few years. The drainage system in old residential areas is too weak to discharge the large amounts of water,” said Le.
The company’s general director Nguyen Si Bao said the situation will only be solved after the second phase of Ha Noi’s ongoing water drainage project, which kicked off this year, is completed in 2010.
The project would prevent floods on city streets in any weather at a cost of 315 million USD, said Bao.
Source: VNA