AT least 100 families and about 1,700 cattle have been evacuated to higher ground after flooding from the Mekong River inundated areas of Stung Treng and Kratie provinces yesterday.  

Loy Sophat, Stung Treng provincial governor, said yesterday that rice fields and villages had been flooded in Siem Bok and Sesan districts.  

“About 100 families have been evacuated to safety and we are providing them with food and medicine,” he said.

“The flooding has not yet risen to an alarming level, but the fact that it continues to rain in our province has people worried about their rice fields and crop plantations,” he added.    

Kratie provincial governor Kham Phoeun reported that a total of 30 communes were flooded in Kratie, Chhlong, Chet Borei and Sambor districts, inundating about 1,000 hectares of transplanted rice seedlings and affecting an estimated 1,000 families.  “We have evacuated more than 1,700 cows and buffaloes, but have not started evacuating people yet,” he said.

Yesterday, Minister of Water Resources Lim Keanhor issued the third statement this week warning those who live along the Mekong to take precautions against flooding caused by heavy rains over the upper Mekong River in Laos and Thailand. Floods may also affect the Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac rivers.