A group of Boeung Kak lake residents could only stand by and watch as the local developer Shukaku Inc inundated their houses with sand yesterday.

Eventually Shukaku, which is reclaiming land from the lake for a 133-hectare real estate development, agreed to temporarily stop pumping the sand so that affected residents could dig a canal to protect their houses. By that point the damage had already been done, said resident Chan Thoeurn.

He has also been cut out of a 12.44 hectare resettlement area awarded as compensation to 756 families set to be evicted by the project, because authorities claim his house is outside the compensation area.

“Authorities cut my house from receiving a land title in the 12.44 hectare [resettlement area] and now the company pumped sand to fill in the ground floor of my house, clogging my sewage drainage system,” he said.

“Why did the authorities and the company do such a thing to my family?”

Shukaku could not be reached for comment.