Brief Cambodia Flood Update

Phnom Penh riverfront, 10/29

Final UPDATE, October 29 - There is no flooding in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap city, Battambang city, Sihanoukville, Kampot city or Kep. There is no imminent threat of flooding in any of these cities. The river levels in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang continue to fall. Here in Phnom Penh, in my casual observation, it is falling at a rate of 10-15cm per day. The river level has dropped below alarm stage all along the Mekong River and Tonle Sap River in Cambodia and continues to fall. All National Routes are clear of water and buses and taxis are running normally. There is still some flooding lingering in the countryside but it is slowly subsiding. From what I read in the papers, parts of Thailand and Bangkok are facing significant flooding problems, but that is completely unrelated to the flooding situation in Cambodia. In my inexpert opinion, the flooding threat to all major Cambodian cities has passed for the season. Unless there is some change for the worse in the situation, this is my final update on the flooding in Cambodia.
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Phnom Penh riverfront, 10/26

UPDATE, October 26 - A very quick update. The drying trend continues in the major cities. There is no flooding in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. The same goes for Sihanoukville, Kampot and Kep. As of today, Siem Reap is drier than it was two days ago when I posted that almost all the flooding had receded from the city. All businesses are open. All Angkor temples are open. There is no flooding in Phnom Penh. The river level in Phnom Penh continues to fall and, in my casual observation, has dropped at least 20cm in the last two days. According to the MRC website, the river level at the Phnom Penh Port station is now below alarm level for the first time since September. All national routes throughout the country are clear of water and buses and taxis are running between all major cities as normal. Much of the countryside is still inundated, and as mentioned before, there has been major crop loss, loss of life and property damage. See below for some of the projects bringing relief to flood victims in the countryside. There seems to be a growing trend on internet over the last couple of days of posting and/or retweeting old information and sometimes downright misleading information about the flooding, presumably out of inattention, ignorance or a desire to jack up their web stats. When looking at information regarding the flooding in Cambodia, especially in the cities, make sure that it is up-to-date.
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Phnom Penh riverfront, 10/24

UPDATE, October 24 - There is no flooding left in Siem Reap town. Though there are some muddy roads and puddled areas, the town is, for most intents and purposes, dry. All businesses, restaurants, shops, bars, etc. are open. All Angkor temples are open. There is no flooding in Phnom Penh or threat of flooding in Phnom Penh. The river level (Tonle Sap) in Phnom Penh continues to fall. When I did my regular riverfront water level check this afternoon, that level had dropped low enough that I could see the third step for the first time in a month. The MRC website shows the water level of the Mekong River continuing to fall all along the river. The water level at the Phnom Penh Port has dropped to near MRC 'Alarm Level' for the first time since late September. The flooding in the countryside is still draining, albeit very slowly. In an informal conversation today, a government official told me that though there may be concerts, parties and such put on by businesses, there are no official Water Festival events scheduled for Phnom Penh this year.
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As of earlier this afternoon (Oct 22):

There is no flooding in Phnom Penh. Well, there is some lingering flooding at the northern and southern outskirts of the city, but none in Phnom Penh proper. In fact there hasn’t been any significant or unusual flooding in Phnom Penh at any point during the Cambodian flooding crisis. I check the river level at the Phnom Penh riverfront every day, looking at the exactly same spot to see if the water level has changed. In my casual, inexpert observation, give or take a few centimeters the river has been at about the same level for a few weeks now. Today the river was down 5-10cm from yesterday. That is the single largest 24-hour drop in the water level I have seen in weeks. The MRC website also shows either stable or falling water levels all along the Mekong in Cambodia.

Water Level depth chart for Phnom Penh Port

(near central Phnom Penh) from the MRC.

I called around to a few friends that live in Siem Reap today and all report the same – the flooding has largely receded from Siem Reap town. Most roads in town, including the Old Market area, Pub Street, all of the shopping areas and even the river road and traffic circle south of the Old Market area are flood-free. All shops, restaurants, bars and markets are open for business. And, to the best I have been able to determine, all of the Angkor temples are available to visit. There is still some water on the road from Siem Reap to the Lake and on High School Road, but both are reportedly passable. There has been damage to many of the roads, but all are passable. Travelfish posted an entry yesterday with up-to-date, first hand information on the state of flooding in Siem Reap.Travelfish has also posted an entry on some of the local organizations and projects helping to bring aid to the affected communities around Siem Reap.

According to taxi drivers and friends I spoke with today, all of the National Routes are free of flooding, including – from Phnom Penh - NR1 to Vietnam, NR 3 to Kampot/Kep, NR4 to Sihanoukville, NR5 to Battambang, NR6 to Siem Reap, Road48 (from NR4 to Koh Kong) and NR3 (Kampot to NR4). I don’t have any information about NR2 to Takeo or NR7 north. All the National Routes have suffered road damage to varying degrees, but all are passable.

I don’t have much information on the situation in the countryside beside what I see in the newspapers, but from what I've read it sounds like things have changed very little. Much of the countryside is still flooded and draining very slowly. There has been huge property damage and crop loss and many people are in a desperate way. See my October 18 post for more information and links.

Whether the flood waters return or continue to fall depends largely on the weather. But at the moment things look to be stable in the countryside and improving in the cities.