A football pitch in Choam Chao I commune’s Kork Chambok village of Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district was badly damaged from heavy rains on the evening of June 7, but no danger was caused to residents nearby, according to local police.
Commune police chief Say Chamroeun told The Post on June 8 that before the rain and wind began, two teams of youths were playing football there and about 30 minutes after they stopped playing, there was a heavy downpour of rain with strong winds that caused severe damage.
“It was scary, because even poles which were made from steel and set into concrete foundations were being knocked over by the wind. It was lucky that those kids stopped prior to the incident and no one was injured or killed,” he said.
Before this incident, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology issued a June 7 warning that there would be heavy rain and thunderstorms, especially in the central lowlands area and lowlands adjacent to the Cardamom Mountains in the northwest.
Based on the day-to-day monitoring of weather conditions and the effects of a prolonged low pressure valley over northern Laos and Vietnam – as well as moderate southwest monsoon winds – meteorological officials forecast that from June 8-14, Cambodia will have heavy rain mixed with thunder, lightning and strong winds.
“In the central lowlands area and northwest – as well as in the lowlands near the northeast plateau – there will be heavy rain in some places with strong winds and thunder. People living in those areas must increase their vigilance,” the announcement said.
In the first five months of 2022, storms caused 25 deaths and 33 mild and severe injuries, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) report seen by The Post on June 8.
The data shows that heavy rain and strong winds occurred 79 times and damaged 2,325 houses, of which 537 houses totally collapsed and 18 roofs of school buildings were damaged.
“Three people were killed and 16 others sustained injuries due to houses collapsing on them,” the report said.
According to the data, there were 46 thunderstorms with lightning strikes that killed 22 people and injured 17 others as well as killing a total of 53 cattle.
