Cambodia’s death toll from flooding keeps rising, and provincial officials along the upper Mekong River say torrential rains in Laos mean more trouble ahead.
Three teen-agers and a pregnant woman, all from Chero I commune in Kompong Cham province, died Saturday when their small boat overturned near Kompong Cham town, said Mao Phirum, the province’s second deputy governor. They were traveling to the town to receive rice donations.
“The water current was so strong that we could not rescue them in time,” Mao Phirum said.
Also Saturday, an elderly man and a child drowned in Kang Meas District, while an adult from Cheung Prey died when his boat capsized, according to Mao Phirum, who said water remained knee-high Sunday in Kompong Cham town.
More than 200 houses have been moved because of riverbank collapses, Mao Phirum said.
Kratie Governor Loy Sophat said 3,000 families have been evacuated and 7,000 hectares of rice paddies have been damaged. He said the market was closed and that most of Kratie town was without electricity on Saturday.
“There has been a great deal of destruction here, because this is the second flooding we have faced this year,” Loy Sophat said. The Mekong also spilled over its banks in Kratie in July.
The flood level in Phnom Penh continues to slowly creep toward the 11.2-meter level, which officials say would send the river spilling over its banks and into the city. The level Sunday morning was measured at 10.88 meters, and is predicted to rise to 10.95 meters by Wednesday.
About 2,400 military police and policemen have been sandbagging the banks in Chroy Changva commune.
On Sunday, local residents were filling more bags and fortifying the river bank.
Water from the Bassac River is creeping up on the area around Chbar Ampou Market, officials said. Floodwaters were within a block of Route 1 just east of Chbar Ampou.
