Storms fuel widespread floods

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
Motorists and pedestrians last week make their way through flood-soaked streets in Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 14 September 2009 15:03 Tep Nimol

SEVERE weather continued to affect several districts in Cambodia on Sunday, with reports of widespread flooding in the wake of torrential downpours.

In Phnom Penh's Russey Keo district, several communes reported high waters, but not just as a result of heavy rainfall. Residents in Kilometre 6 village said that water being pumped from Beoung Kak lake into Ou Veng ditch had overflowed.

Meanwhile, the governor of Kampong Thom province, Chhun Chhorn, said water levels had begun to recede in several areas, but that the Sen River, swollen as a result of heavy rainfall, was still threatening Sandan, Kampong Svay and Prasat Sambor districts.

In Kratie province, five districts remained on high alert. In Ratanakkiri province, the Sre Pork River returned to its normal levels, but not before destroying 515 hectares of rice and damaging 301 homes.

Floodwaters in Sre Angkourng and Serey Mungkul were receding slowly, but 200 families who were evacuated had yet to return to their homes, Governor Loeung Chan Theang told the Post.

The body of a 14-year-old girl who went missing when she was swept out to sea just off a Preah Sihanouk beach on September 6 was found in Kampot on Friday, according to Sihanoukville police Deputy Chief Yin Bunnath.

Deuk Srey Touch had been playing in the surf with a group of four friends, three of whom were also killed.

Seth Vannareth, director of the Department of Meteorology at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, was unavailable to comment on Sunday.