Floods take heavy toll on six provinces in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (The Phnom Penh Post/ANN) -- The National Committee for Disaster Management said six provinces have been seriously hit by recent floods, with more than 5,000 families, 3,000 hectares of paddy fields and properties, roads and schools affected.

The National Committee for Disaster Management said six provinces have been seriously hit by the recent floods.

National Committee for Disaster Management spokesman Keo Vy said on Monday that the worst hit areas were the eastern provinces of Ratanakkiri and Mondulkiri and the coastal provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kep and Kampot.
The majority of the 5,869 families affected were in Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Ratanakkiri provinces, he said. Of those, 1,342 families have been evacuated. Vy said 19 schools, eight pagodas, 3,119ha of paddy fields and 753ha of other agricultural land had been affected.
“Some of the flooded crops have been destroyed. The rice has not been destroyed because it’s just inundated,” he said, adding that the police, Military Police and army are ready to help those in need.
Some people in Ratanakkiri and Mondulkiri provinces have been temporarily evacuated from their homes to safe places, Vy said, and that they were able to take their pets and other important possessions with them.
Others have stayed at home because the flooding has only reached the ground floor, he said.
Vy said most homes in Sihanoukville had been flooded and the authorities had evacuated 295 families from Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district.
He said only a small number of people had been badly affected by flooding in Koh Kong and Kep provinces because the water had been released into canals and the sea.
However, 3,012 families, 286ha of paddy fields and more than 2ha of durian trees in four Kampot districts had been flooded, with 60 families evacuated.
The Konsat dam in Konsat commune in Kampot province’s Teuk Chhou district was breached on Monday but did not cause serious problems.
Kampot provincial governor Cheav Tay said: “We have fixed the dam already, so it does not affect people. “There has been no serious harm from the floods and no one has drowned in Kampot. We warned people in good time and now the flooding is receding.”

(Latest Update August 14, 2019)