ASERIES of coastal storms continued to wreak havoc with air and sea traffic in Cambodia's southern provinces Thursday, and the director of the Department of Meteorology at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology said she expected the bad weather to continue at least through Friday. "The bad weather is still not finished," Seth Vannareth said, adding that her department would continue to warn tourists against travelling to provinces including Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong. Earlier this week, heavy rains flooded a stretch of National Road 4 in Preah Sihanouk province.

Seth Vannareth said the storms posed a particular threat to fishermen. She said she did not know when the storms would stop. Keo Vy, communications officer for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), said Wednesday that 71 storms had occurred in Cambodia through the first six months of 2009. There were 53 storms for all of 2008. He said the storms had led to two deaths and 56 injuries and had caused 681 houses to collapse. In addition, 830 houses, 10 schools and two temples had been slightly damaged by storms, he said. He added that the NCDM had not received any reports of injuries or deaths resulting from this week's storms.