Prolonged rains, floods in Cambodia continue hitting many localities

Flooding in Phnom Penh's outskirts, Cambodia. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Prolonged heavy rains and floods from mid-September caused damage to 12 out of 25 cities and provinces in Cambodia.

The National Committee Disaster for Management (NCDM) reported on October 19 that so far, the rains and flood claimed four lives, affected more than 58,600 households, and 176 schools and damaged over 32,370 houses, over 19,600 ha of rice, nearly 15,000 ha of other crops and about 549 km of roads.

According to NCDM spokesperson Soth Kimkolmony, approximate 9,000 people of about 2,250 households have been evacuated to safe places while over flood-hit 10,000 families received support. The Cambodian Food Reserve allocated 451 tonnes of seed rice to help farmers restore production.

The flood from mid-September is the third of its kind to hit Cambodian since the beginning of the rainy season, following those in July and August.

The flood in August claimed four lives and affected more than 20,000 households, damaged tens of thousands of ha of agricultural production and ruined many infrastructure projects in 19 provinces in Cambodia./.