Floodwaters have poured into villages in the south of the capital amid unseasonal rains, forcing dozens of families to evacuate and submerging properties under neck-high water.
“This is not normal,” said Water Resources Ministry official Mao Hak.
Around 200-300 mm of rain fell around the Prek Tnaut river since Thursday, Hak said. That’s about as much as falls on average during Cambodia’s wettest months.
Sem Meas, a resident of Kandal Stung district’s Kandork commune, said Prek Tnaut’s waters were pouring into her village.
“The water flowed through and took away my nephew’s house and all his properties. There’s nothing left,” Meas said.
Five wooden houses had been swept away by floodwater on Saturday, she said.
Nearby resident Morn Navy said there was water also flowing under her house. “I’m so worried now and I barely sleep now as I am afraid the water will sweep our house through the water.”
According to National Police, as of Sunday, flooding had affected three communes in Kandal Stung and 10 communes in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district.
In 29 villages, 953 houses and 1,026 families were affected, police said.
City Hall spokesman Met Measpheakdey said police were on standby 24 hours. “We’ve helped put sandbags to stop the water and we’re standing by in the most affected areas to evacuate people to a safe place.”
Dangkao’s Kongnoy commune chief Un Sok Rom said Prek Tnaut had rapidly risen over the weekend and forced seven families to free their homes at night.
Some 30 families were evacuated from one of his area’s villages, which was under about 1.5 meters of water, Sok Rom said.
“We used small boats to evacuate them from their houses,” he said. “The families are now living temporarily in small plastic tents on the road.”
Prek Tnaut, which flows from Kampong Speu and is near the Boeng Tompun lake landfilling developments, has become notorious for worsening floods in recent years. Even so, flooding in January — usually the country’s dry season — still caught residents by surprise.
“No one thought there would be flooding,” said Sok Rom. “So we didn’t prepare anything.”
