Ho Chi Minh City's expat hub Thao Dien waist-deep in water after an hour of rain

Heavy rain swept across Ho Chi Minh City on June 15, submerging roads in the riverside Thao Dien, the city's largest expat neighborhood, and nearby areas within about an hour and leaving residents to wade home or push stalled motorbikes through the water.

Around 5:30 p.m., heavy rain left a string of roads around Thao Dien (An Khanh Ward, in the former District 2) deeply flooded, with some stretches nearly waist-deep, stalling motorbikes and forcing residents to push them home on foot.

Residents push their motorbikes onto the sidewalk along Quoc Huong Street to avoid the deepest flooded stretches.

A group of students from the University of Culture wade home through the water. "We'd just finished class and found the road already deep in water," said student Nguyen Trong Phuc (L).

Nearby, Xuan Thuy Street was also awash.

With many motorbikes unable to start, residents pushed them through the flooded section.

About 3 km away, the rain submerged motorbikes up to half their wheels on Dinh Bo Linh Street near the old Mien Dong Bus Station. Four days earlier, a heavy evening rush-hour downpour also left the area underwater, affecting many households.

On Nam Hoa Street and Hanoi Highway in Phuoc Long Ward, water rose more than 10 cm, slowing traffic to a crawl.

According to the Southern Regional Hydrometeorological Center, the rain was caused by strongly developing convective clouds driven by southwesterly winds combined with upper-level wind convergence. Rainfall generally measured 5-15 mm, exceeding 20 mm in places. Over the next three hours, the convective clouds were expected to keep developing and spreading, bringing showers and thunderstorms across many parts of Ho Chi Minh City.