Cambodia has been battered by 31 storms since the start of this year, about twice the number in the same period last year, according to an informal report by the National Committee for Disaster Management the Post obtained yesterday.

The country’s northwestern provinces bore the brunt of the onslaught, the report says, with Battambang most affected, followed by Banteay Meanchey and Preah Vihear.In total, 16 people have died as a result of storm damage to their homes and lightning strikes, and 39 people have been injured, the report says.

Property damage also has been extensive, with 423 homes destroyed and 1,497 damaged by storms so far this year, according to the report.

Keo Vy, cabinet director of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said an official report of storm damages this year would be issued soon.

But he told the Post the numbers seemed “a lot more serious” than last year’s figures.

Vy added that most of the storms happened in the dry, hot month of March.

Just two days ago, a lightning storm in Koh Kong province’s Thma Bang district killed two men and injured a third.

Thma Bang deputy district police chief Ing Sareoung said the men had been felling trees in the rain in the district’s Russei Chrum commune when lightning struck them.