LTO Cambodia: Siem Reap flooding again

Monday, October 10, 2011

Siem Reap flooding again

I am not in Siem Reap at the moment and have no first hand knowledge of the current flooding situation, but people keep sending me emails asking about it so I thought I'd pass on what little I know and a few links to forums, bloggers and tweeters that are there and have posted recent info regarding the current flooding in Siem Reap town.

News is that Siem Reap town is flooding again - 3rd time in the last month. Apparently, like before, the river through town began overflowing yesterday afternoon and has continued today. According to friends up there, as of a few hours ago, the flooding is in pretty much the same areas as last week (see my post of September 26 Siem Reap Flooding - Trip Report) but so far not as deep or extensive. The situation is likely evolving as I write.

Links:

'Only in Cambodia' blog has just (Oct 10) posted photos and information about the current flooding: Water, Water Everywhere "OK. So We're going through our 3rd flood in Siem Reap where the river has over flown its banks and spilled into the streets turning them into extended tributaries. From morning to afternoon, the river rose and spilled over so that you couldn't see its banks..." Click the link to read more.

On Twitter:

Rosy Guesthouse, located on the east side of the river in the center of town also sometimes tweets about the flooding: Rosy Guesthouse

Canby Publications does a pretty good job of collecting and retweeting information about the flooding: Canby_Cambodia

Journey's Within Boutique Hotel is located in Siem Reap and is tweeting a bit about the flooding as well: JWBoutiqueHotel

Forums:

TripAdvisor has a running thread on its travel forum where people have been posting up-to-date information on the flooding in Siem Reap town. Make sure to check out the end of the thread for the latest info: Flooding in Siem Reap

Other:

Mekong River Commission situation report. Current flooding situation and forecast for areas along the Mekong River through Southeast Asia. Information on Phnom Penh and other Cambodian cities along the Mekong, but no info on Siem Reap: Mekong River Commission

Article in today's Phnom Penh Post on the flooding situation in Cambodia in general, not specifically about Siem Reap: Death toll rises; risk at riverbanks

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Cambodia

Cambodia is Srok Khmer, the 'Land of the Khmer,' the primary ethnic group in the area since at least the Neolithic and an Indian influenced civilization with origins near 2000 years old. Centered on the lower Mekong and tributaries the Khmer people have dominated the region for millennia. From 2nd century AD Khmer kingdoms rose and fell, culminating in unification and the 500 year reign of the Angkorian Empire, the builders of the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap. The Empire stretched from Burma to the ocean. But by the 1400s Cambodia fell to centuries of change and decline squeezed between the expanding Siam and Vietnam. Colonized and by the French in the 1860s, independence 90 years later in 1954, a brief post-colonial 'golden period' under Sihanouk, coup in 70, civil war, fall to the communist Khmer Rouge in 75, 3 years 8 months 20 days of madness, Vietnamese rescue in 1979, occupation, low level war and international sanctions in the 80s, the UN, ostensive democracy and an adventure party destination in the 90s and now mainstreaming, tourism, rapid development, rapacious capitalism and NGOs, missionaries and other international busybodies aplenty.

Southeast Asia

As the term implies, Southeast Asia encompasses the southeastern corner of the Asian continent, loosely speaking, the area between India, China and Australia. It is made up of two distinct regions: the mainland zone, a bulbous peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, bounded by China to the north and India to the west; and the insular (island) zone in the Pacific Ocean. The name 'Southeast Asia' is a comparatively recent invention, first coming into use into the 20th century and still a bit indefinite in definition. Mainland Southeast Asia is generally considered to include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and peninsular Malaysia. The mainland is sometimes referred to as Indo-China though Indochina (Indochine) also designates the 19th/20th century French colonial conglomerate of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Sitting south of the Tropic of Cancer, most of mainland Southeast Asia lies in the hot, humid tropics and sub-tropics with a climate dominated by a monsoon cycle which divides the year into two distinct seasons: a dry season and an extremely wet monsoon season. Much of the mainland is mountainous and thickly jungled, with large river systems and wide, low-lying, flood-prone plains, much of which is, in modern times, deforested and blanketed with geometrical rice paddies. Several major river valleys including the Mekong River, the Red, Ma and Ka rivers and the group of rivers draining to the Chao Praya Delta played host to the rise of early civilization in the area. The Mekong River is one of the world's greatest rivers, the seventh largest on the planet, and since pre-history has been closely associated with the land of the Khmer.