Rains take heavy toll: govt report

Wednesday, 16 September 2009 15:04 Tep Nimol

Extent of damage from deluge still unknown.

NEARLY 29,000 hectares of crops were damaged and more than 13,600 homes flooded across the country by heavy rainfall during the past 10 days, the National Committee for Disaster Management has said.

Torrential rains that began on September 4 hit hardest in Kampong Thom, Kampot, Kratie and Ratanakkiri provinces, killing at least nine people, including several children, in floods, according to a report by the committee’s Department for Information and Communication released Monday.

The monetary losses incurred from the destruction and subsequent cleanup have yet to be calculated, the report said.

“This year’s rainfall has been heavier than in previous years; for instance, Kratie was flooded twice,” said department Deputy Director Keo Vy.

Officials said that at least two districts in Phnom Penh remain flooded, and that standing water was still affecting three districts in Kampong Thom – the province worst-hit by the rains, where some 7,500 hectares of rice fields were destroyed.

Preah Vihear province was also badly affected, Keo Vy said, adding, however, that the committee has yet to receive a damage report from that province.

But the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology said Monday that water levels in the Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap rivers had been dropping despite the still-daily rains that have also been decreasing measurably.

The Tonle Bassac-Chaktomuk weather station in Phnom Penh reported that daily rainfall levels in the capital were still at 20.3mm.