HCMC villa basements remain flooded 12 hours after heavy rain

More than 12 hours after heavy rain poured over night, several basements at the Cityland Park Hills upscale complex in Ho Chi Minh City remained under over a meter of water on Thursday morning, leaving motorbikes, medical equipment, and machinery severely damaged. Following torrential rain on Wednesday evening, the underground parking garage of a villa in the Cityland Park Hills residential development in Go Vap Ward remained deeply flooded on Thursday morning. Spanning nearly 27 hectares along Phan Van Tri and Nguyen Van Luong streets, the upscale urban complex integrates villas, townhouses, and high-rise apartments with on-site schools, public parks, and retail amenities. Nearly 10 motorbikes of the employees of a Shinhan Bank branch are almost buried under water in the basement parking lot. The deluge also seeped into the building's elevator shaft and electrical control room, inflicting structural and equipment damage. Mud and debris are left amid damaged furniture, medical equipment, and clinical records inside an obstetrics and gynecology clinic after floodwaters were pumped clear. Luong Thi Huong, 60, the clinic's owner, said water rushed into the basement so rapidly the previous evening that staff only managed to push motorbikes out to safety. The surge completely submerged an ultrasound scanner, a urine analyzer, computer terminals, patient files, and multiple television sets. Huong gestures toward a visible high-water mark along the wall, showing floodwaters in the basement reached over a meter deep. "All the clinic's belongings are damaged now. I never expected something like this to happen here," she said. Documents, medicines and medical examination equipment were damaged after being submerged for hours. Documents, medicines and medical examination equipment were damaged after being submerged for hours. Documents, medicines and medical examination equipment were damaged after being submerged for hours. Documents, medicines and medical examination equipment were damaged after being submerged for hours. The clinic owner cleared out belongings after the flooding, while a pump was used to drain water from the basement. The clinic owner cleared out belongings after the flooding, while a pump was used to drain water from the basement. The clinic owner cleared out belongings after the flooding, while a pump was used to drain water from the basement. Go Vap Flower Village Park located nearby remained heavily submerged on Thursday morning following days of torrential downpours. The downpour on Wednesday evening inundated roadways throughout Ho Chi Minh City, stalling scores of vehicles and triggering widespread traffic gridlock. A persistent atmospheric setup, driven by an active intertropical convergence zone coupled with weak easterly wave disturbances, has triggered sustained, widespread rainfall across Ho Chi Minh City for over 10 days. Meteorological agencies project further precipitation with heavy rainfall across the city through the afternoons and evenings of Oct. 8 and 9. The location of Cityland Park Hills. Graphics by Tam Thao