HCM CITY — Many flights were delayed, cancelled or diverted on Friday evening as heavy rains seriously flooded HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport.

The 159mm downpour submerged the airport’s aprons and flooded the runways.

Nearly 70 flights arriving at Tân Sơn Nhất airport were affected. Fourteen were diverted to other nearby airports, including Liên Khương Airport in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng and Cam Ranh airport in the central province of Khánh Hoà.

Four international flights were rerouted to Phnom Penh and Bangkok in Cambodia and Thailand, respectively.

Aircraft began leaving the airport only at 10pm, after the downpour had stopped and the weather cleared.

Airport deputy director Phạm Vũ Cường said Friday’s torrential rains had inundated one of the taxiways by as much as 30cm of water, forcing it to close for one hour. The airport resumed operation at 8pm after the waters had receded. 

Last year, the airport was almost shut down after flooding threatened a power station supplying electricity to air traffic control facilities.

On October 9, 2015, some areas of the Tân Sơn Nhất airport were under 20cm of water following heavy rains, inundating the power station. Sandbags were used to keep the water out of some facilities.

The inundation was caused by drainage problems in nearby canals, with nearly half of them used to dump trash, Cường said.

The airport management has urged city authorities to act quickly in dealing with flooding situations that could force a temporary closure of the airport.

In June this year, the HCM City administration directed relevant agencies to dredge canals and draw up plans to further improve the drainage system. — VNS