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HANOI, Vietnam (AP) \u2014 Vietnam is rethinking how it copes with floods after a year of relentless storms collapsed hillsides and left vast parts of cities under water.<\/p>\n
From mapping high-risk areas to reimagining \u201csponge cities\u201d that can absorb and release water naturally, Vietnam is investing billions to adapt to what experts call a new era of climate extremes. Under a national master plan running through 2030, the government has pledged more than $6 billion to build early-warning systems and move communities out of danger.<\/p>\n
In smaller cities like Vinh in central Vietnam, these ideas are taking shape. Drainage networks are expanding, flood basins are being carved and riverbanks turned into green spaces that can absorb and then drain off after heavy rains.<\/p>\n
An onslaught of storms this year has underscored the urgency of that work: Ragasa<\/a>, Bualoi<\/a>, Matmo<\/a> \u2014 each carved its own path of ruin. Record rainfall<\/a> turned streets into rivers and sent slopes sliding, with barely any time for the land to recover between storms.<\/p>\n As Typhoon Kalmaegi<\/a> was gathering strength on its path toward Vietnam this week, scientists warned it may not be the last. It’s a glimpse of the country\u2019s climate future \u2014 warmer seas fueling storms that form faster, linger longer, and dump heavier rain, hitting the poorest communities hardest.<\/p>\n \u201cVietnam and its neighbors are on the front lines of climate disruption,\u201d said Benjamin Horton, a professor of earth science at City University of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n Climate change is reshaping Vietnam\u2019s storm season<\/p>\n Scientists say the succession of storms battering Vietnam is not a fluke but part of a broader shift in how storms behave on a warming planet. Vietnam usually faces about a dozen storms a year, but the 2025 cluster was a \u201cclear signal\u201d of global warming, said Horton.<\/p>\n Ocean waters are now nearly 1 degree Celsius (33.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than before the industrial era. So storms carry more moisture.<\/p>\n The economic toll has been severe for Vietnam, a developing country that wants to become rich by 2045.<\/a> Floods routinely disrupt farming, fisheries, and factories \u2014 the backbone of its economy. State media estimate extreme weather has cost the country $1.4 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n Vietnam estimates it will need to spend $55 billion\u2013$92 billion in this decade to manage and adapt to the impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n Vietnam\u2019s cities aren\u2019t built for climate shocks<\/p>\n About 18 million people, nearly a fifth of Vietnam\u2019s population, live in its two biggest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Both are on river deltas that once served as natural buffers against flooding. But as concrete spread over wetlands and farmlands, the cities lost their capacity to absorb downpours.<\/p>\n Flooding in Hanoi in October lingered for nearly a week in some neighborhoods. The city of over 8 million has outgrown its infrastructure and its colonial-era drainage system failed as streets turned into brown canals. Motorbikes sputtered in waist-deep water and the Red River\u2019s levees were tested.<\/p>\n Vegetable seller Dang Thuan’s home flooded knee-deep, spoiling her stock. Her neighborhood used to have several ponds, but they were filled in to build houses and roads. Now the water has nowhere to go.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to move,\u201d she said, \u201cSo every time it rains hard, we just wait and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1986-1996, the decade coinciding with \u2018Doi Moi\u2019 economic reforms that unleashed a construction boom, Hanoi lost nearly two-thirds of water bodies in its four core urban districts, according to a study by Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.<\/p>\n Between 2015 and 2020, it lost water bodies spanning the area of 285 soccer fields, state media have reported.<\/p>\n More than three-quarters of Hanoi\u2019s area \u2014 including much of its densely populated core \u2014 is at risk of flooding, according to a 2024 study. Flooding in the city can\u2019t be solved by building more, said Hong Ngoc Nguyen, lead author of the study and an environmental engineer at the Japanese consultancy Nippon Koei.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t control the water,\u201d she said, pointing to Singapore\u2019s shift from concrete canals to greener riverbanks that slow and hold stormwater instead of rushing it away.<\/p>\n A global problem with lessons in nature<\/p>\n The idea of designing cities to \u201clive with water\u201d is gaining traction globally, including in Vietnam.<\/p>\n City officials and residents in India\u2019s Bengaluru are working to save the city\u2019s remaining lakes<\/a>, while Johannesburg in South Africa is trying to restore its Jukskei River.<\/p>\n Vietnam’s recent floods have sparked a wider conversation about how cities should deal with storms.<\/p>\n The former director of the National Institute of Urban and Rural Planning, Ngo Trung Hai, told the state-run newspaper Hanoi Times that the city must learn to live with heavy rainfall and adopt long-term strategies. European business associations have urged Vietnam\u2019s financial capital Ho Chi Minh City to adopt a \u201csponge city\u201d approach.<\/p>\n Real estate developers have faced criticism in state media for improper building practices, such as building on low-lying land or roads unconnected to storm sewer systems and treating water bodies as \u201clandscape features\u201d rather than ways to drain storm water.<\/p>\n Some of Vietnam\u2019s biggest property developers have begun to adapt. In the coastal tourism hub of Nha Trang, the Sun Group is building a new township modeled as a \u201csponge city\u201d with wetlands covering 60 hectares (148 acres), designed to store and reuse rainwater to reduce flooding and absorb heat.<\/p>\n City planners must account for future climate risks, said Anna Beswick, who studies climate adaptation at the London School of Economics.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we plan based on past experience, we won\u2019t be resilient in the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n