Submerged cars, buses and motorbikes were abandoned throughout the city during heavy flooding in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, early last month. Photo: Mother Nature

Marissa Carruthers
Sineat Yon
2nd September 2019

When floods caused extensive damage last month it raised safety concerns, and worries that things are only going to get worse

Maggie Eno and her Cambodian staff wade through thigh-high murky water as they assess the devastating damage at their headquarters. Destruction surrounds them as they start the huge task of clearing up in the wake of unprecedented flooding that left Cambodian coastal city Sihanoukville under water.

Tha Sok Lay, 38, a restaurant owner at Otres beach, said within one hour the water was more than one metre high. Tha Sok Lay and her staff fled the restaurant for high land, watching the business being ravaged by the rapidly rising waters. “The flood came so fast,” she recalls. “It’s never happened like this in the past. No-one was ready for it, so we didn’t know how to prepare for the flooding or try to prevent damage.”

According to Thon Ratha, of environmental NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, much of the blame lies with the heavy Chinese investment in Sihanoukville. As home to Cambodia’s only deep water port – part of a vital trade route for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative – the city has become a focal point for investment from the Asian superpower.

By contrast, crucial water management infrastructure development has not kept apace, putting a strain on sewage systems, and the management of water flow and waste disposal.

Full https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-l ... dia-floods