Swollen-river waters from heavy monsoon rains flooded Route 4 in Koh Kong province Tuesday afternoon, halting travel between Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh, officials said.
No casualties or fatalities were reported.
A stretch of road was at least
1 meter underwater in Sre Ambel district, 6 km southwest of the Kompong Speu provincial border, Kompong Speu Police Chief Nop Oeun said Tuesday evening.
A bus that left Phnom Penh at 12:15 pm had little trouble traveling through the area, but the
1:30 pm bus was forced to turn back, said Teo Siew Chong, operations manager for the Ho Wah Genting tourist bus company.
By 4 pm, water on the road was “waist deep,” and it was still raining, said Sin Phirom, an assistant manager for Ho Wah Genting, citing reports of one of the company’s drivers. He said the flooding was caused by the swollen Steng Sem Rong river.
A fuel company official, who declined to give his name, said he expected the flood waters to recede enough by later Tuesday night for transport to resume.
Seth Vannareth, Cambodia’s deputy director of meteorology, said he expected the rains to subside by today.
The last floods that disrupted bus service along Route 4 occurred two or three years ago and took a full day to recede, Teo Siew Chong said. “Maybe you can hire a boat to take you” to Sihanoukville, he quipped.
