Raining Cats and Dogs

It has been raining cats and dogs here for a week. A tail landed on our porch. But the downpour never longer than five minutes.  You never know when it will happen. I was lucky  yesterday when I didn’t listen to my mom and decided to take a taxi instead of ride my bike to school. She told me she could "see the sky" and that she was "sure" it wouldn’t rain. Once I got into the taxi the rain started again, harder than it had been all week! So, you never know...

In more developed countries, there is usually not a problem with floods because of good drainage systems on the side of the roads. Here they have holes in the road but the metal bars on top usually get stolen right away. Then there is a hole in the street. Yes, in the street where people ride their bicycles and motorbikes and where people walk. However, there are still floods because of the way the street is structured. It curves more in than out so the water cannot  flow into the holes efficiently. Also, dirt and trash are being stuffed into the holes which blocks the water from getting through, which just defeats the whole purpose of the hole. Sometimes a tree stump is put into the hole to act like a warning flag. 

As you may be able to see in this picture, the water from the rain is just sitting about halfway up because it is blocked by all of the trash.

This what it looks like after a typical downpour.

(Take note that they are now having to drive on the WRONG side of the street.)

Floods are a common thing here...probably the most common natural disaster. A flood in 1964 killed 10,000 people. In one flood event in 2008, about 24 inches of rain occurred over a four day period. There were massive traffic jams as motorbikes and cars were abandoned in the waters. The death toll was about 55, including three school children who had fallen in uncovered storm drains.

I also read a story about a man named Vu Thanh Quang, 27, who was riding his motorbike on the street in the southern province of Dong Nai. The highway had just been flooded after heavy rains, and he slipped into the drainage canal and drowned. Locals said that not long ago another person had fallen into the same drainage canal. This shows how dangerous riding motorbikes after heavy rains can be.

Teenagers seem to look at flooded streets as water park rides. We were outside on our street filled with water, and I was wearing a nice pair of jeans. They weren't so nice a few minutes later though. Teenagers zipped by on their motorbikes with no shirts on, spraying water everywhere. I'm sure it was impossible for them to see anything. My mom was able to get a picture of one zipping past.

I'm sure this is great fun, especially because there is not much else to do here. But when there are floods, the holes in the streets are completely invisible, and yet, so big. Our neighbor had fallen into one of those holes on his bicycle and needed stitches on his forehead. I even heard a story about baby pugs falling into one!

Here my friend is looking at her camera and not at the upcoming hole that she will nearly fall into.














So, to sum it all up, don't drive on a motorbike during heavy rain....or at least just be careful ;)

Works Cited

Cuong, Kim. "Man Drowns in Southern Vietnam's Drainage Canal - News.VietnamHotels.net." Vietnam Travel News - VietnamHotels.net. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. <http://news.vietnamhotels.net/man-drowns-in-southern-vietnam39s-drainage-canalnbsp.html>.

"Floods in Hanoi, Vietnam. - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M76_Msh-19I>.

"Hanoi Hit by Record Floods." News | Voice of America. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. <http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2008-11-04-voa5-66605217.html>.

"Storm Forecast to Inundate Hanoi, Threatening Northern Crops." DTiNews - Dan Tri International, the News Gateway of Vietnam. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. <http://www1.dtinews.vn/news/news/vietnam/storm-forecast-to-inundate-hanoi-threatening-northern-crops_13257.html>.