I got up early today to go to work. As I left my house, I saw my landlord and asked her if it was raining. She said no but as I got outside, it had started to sprinkle. It was a bit cloudy and the roads were still damp. It made for a cool ride through District 1. It was relatively an uneventful ride to work until I got near The Manor on Nguyen Huu Canh street. I noticed the road was covered by water. This was odd since it only rained hard for a few minutes it seemed last night. I never saw this part of the road underwater. I think the New Moon and high tide may be a contributing factor here.
I made it through but as I got near Highway 1 and the Saigon Bridge, the water got deeper. Some cars were stalled and a couple motorbikes were dead. I was able to take some snapshots of Nguyen Huu Canh underwater at the stoplight.
I crossed the Saigon Bridge and turned towards An Phu and then Thao Dien. As I approached my school, I could tell things were not going to be good. I had to take a detour to get to the entrance of my school. When I entered the gate, I could tell the whole school was flooded. The water was higher then any previous floods. School was canceled.
I spent my day drying out 7 computers that ended up underwater (hair dryers are great for this). Our fiber optic line was dead but I was able to get that working again. Our copy machine got wet which means it will need to be serviced. By the end of the day, the IT was working again. I even got both school bells working which surprised me, I had no idea how they were connected to the computers so I guessed.
It rained most of the day, I decided to bypass Nguyen Huu Canh by the Manor and took the alternate route.
Thao Dien may be hit by another flood tonight especially if it rains hard tonight. It is amazing how one of the most wealthiest areas of Saigon is the hardest hit in regards to flooding.
I am praying for sun tomorrow…