Heavy downpours batter southern region

Heavy rains on Thursday evening flooded An Dương Vương Street in HCM City’s District  六. Photo Mạnh Linh

HCM CITY— Heavy rains in the southern region that began on Thursday are expected to continue in HCM City and neighbouring provinces over the next few days, according to the Southern Regional Hydro-meteorological Centre.

The torrential rains, occurring during the dry season, began around  四 pm on Thursday in HCM City, lasting until  一0: 三0 pm.

The heaviest rainfall was estimated at  一 一0 millimetres in District  八, followed by Bình Tân District with  七 八. 五 millimetres and District  七 with  七 六 millimetres.

Around  二0 areas in the city were flooded due to heavy rains, including Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, Bạch Đằng and Ngô Tất Tố streets in Bình Thạnh District; An Dương Vương Street and Cây Gõ Roundabout in District  六; and Huỳnh Tấn Phát Street in District  七 and An Lạc Roundabout in Bình Tân District.

Around  二 pm on Thursday, unseasonable rains hit provinces in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta such as Long An, Tiền Giang, Kiên Giang, Vĩnh Long and Sóc Trăng.

Lê Thanh Hải, deputy general director of the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, told Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper that the rains were caused by a strong equatorial convergence zone.

Such a phenomenon occurs every five to seven years, he said.

The city’s rainy season last from May to November. Experts say the weather in not only HCM City but across Việt Nam is becoming more and more difficult to predict.—VNS