This is due to the bowl shape of the Plain of Reeds. It will be at least until mid-November when the Mekong River drops sufficiently that the water will begin to drain out of the Plain of Reeds. The biggest problem at the moment is food, he reports. Besides fishing nets, simple inexpensive locally made wooden boats are needed. Most of the households in the area do not have boats and, as a result, people are immobilized and stranded by the floods.
Schools are closed, as are medical clinics.
The floods mean that it is almost guaranteed to happen. Dangers also reports flooding in Long An Province, which borders neighboring Cambodia, has severely affected what is already one of the poorest areas of Vietnam. For these people who normally live a very difficult life trying to make a living from very poor quality land, the current floods are potentially catastrophic. While flooding in Cambodia seems to have peaked, reports Herman Brouwer, CWS-Cambodia, the severe inundation in the Mekong Delta means that flood waters will continue to pose a potentially serious health threat. Continuing concerns are problems related to drinking water since most wells are contaminated and people are drinking flood water.