Flooding along the Mekong River in three provinces has claimed six lives and left hundreds of families homeless, authorities said Monday. Five of the victims were children.
Though the flooding has abated somewhat in the provinces of Kratie and Stung Treng, it has continued farther south, in the populous province of Kampong Cham, Mao Hak, director of the meteorology department of the Ministry of Water Resources said.
The flooding left 570 families homeless and has inundated some 5,200 hectares of farmland, he said.
Mekong flooding began last week after heavy rains, and though it has abated in the upstream provinces, the river is expected to swell farther downstream, he said.
Keo Vy, chief of cabinet for the National Disaster Management Committee, said 17 districts in three provinces were flooded.
“If the water lasts for more than 10 days, rice plants will be destroyed,” he said.