Heavy rain and strong winds over the Khmer New Year holiday killed two people, injured two others and resulted in damage to nearly 300 homes in Stung Treng and Kampong Cham provinces, said local authorities.
Eng Sophea, deputy chief of the Stung Treng Provincial Disaster Management Committee, told The Post on April 17 that Mao Vanda, a 24-year-old man, was killed and a boy was injured after their boat was washed away by torrential rains on the evening of April 15.
The same storm badly damaged 269 homes: 112 homes in Sesan district, 48 houses in Borei O’Svay Senchey district, 46 in Siem Bok district and 20 in Stung Treng town.
“At this time, our provincial team is making repairs to the houses and providing first aid to the families with victims,” she said.
Stung Treng town governor Say Kosal called on residents to be alert to severe weather and monitor developments closely, while the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology predicted that this phenomenon will continue to occur further into the rainy season during the first week of May.
“Climate change is getting worse year after year. Therefore, we need to remain extremely cautious about natural phenomena like rainstorms,” he said.
In Kampong Cham province, police reported that the April 15 storm hit Prey Chhor district hard, causing nearly 30 houses to collapse and roofs of other homes to cave-in, including one that killed a woman and seriously injured a man.
Prey Chhor district governor Kheng Meng Chhun told The Post that on the night of April 15 at least 28 houses suffered heavy damage and a woman named Toeur Phearum, 37, resident of Mien village and commune in Prey Chhor district, died due a roof collapse and her 2-year-old son Chi Por was seriously injured and taken to the hospital by relatives.
“The death of the woman was due to the rainstorm causing a palm tree to fall over and crush her house while she was inside breastfeeding her son,” he said.
He said that on April 16 Kampong Cham provincial governor Un Chanda visited the families of the victims and donated money to them on behalf of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife. He also urged the hospital in Prey Chhor district to do everything it could to facilitate free examinations and treatment for patients injured by the storm, including billing the provincial administration.
