Every year the delta has a flooding season, a time when a series of extremely big storms dump way too much rain and cause the rivers to overflow. This creates flooding all over the city, in the streets and even into a lot of homes. If people don’t have good drainage systems, the water can rise up several feet, damaging houses and put people in danger.
The people of the delta are resilient. They figured out long ago that rice is one of the best crops to grow in flood-prone areas, so it’s the area's largest export. Further, they’re starting to build infrastructure to combat flooding in certain areas, like my home! There’s a large trench outside my house that collects water and drains it far away before it can get high enough to cause a flood in my living room! Hopefully, a lot more people in Can Tho will have these kinds of trenches to protect themselves against rising waters.
