South East Asia has been experiencing the worst floods in decades leaving hundreds of people dead. The Mekong River flows along side of Phnom Penh and is usually a steep drop from the boardwalk. The river has risen so much it is now up to the ledge where I was standing to take this photo.
Before: steep bank you can tell how far the girl is away from me up on the ledge.
Now : water to the ledge
In November, Cambodia celebrates the Water Festival where boat races take place along the river. The city grows exponentially as people from all over the country congregate in Phnom Penh. This year the river is so high and is moving at such high speeds that the biggest festival of the year has actually been cancelled.
Cambodian authorities have cancelled the nation’s largest public festival after at least 247 people were killed in the country’s worst floods in a decade, with huge tracts of land still submerged.
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the cancellation of the Water Festival that was scheduled for next month.
The three day festival typically draws more than one million people to Phnom Penh to watch traditional rowing races.
The government said that high water levels in the Tonle Sap River that run through Phnom Penh could endanger people competing in the race.
Hun Sen said floods had destroyed 8 per cent of the country’s rice crop and damaged twice that amount.
The government said that money saved from cancelling the festival will go towards flood relief.
This time last year tragedy struck during the Water Festival when over 300 people were killed in a stampede across the suspension bridge to Diamond Island. It was declared by the Prime Minister to be the biggest disaster the country had experienced since the mass killings of the Khmer Rouge regime.
I live less than a 10 minute walk from this now infamous bridge and it’s hard to imagine what it looked like on that tragic day. The bridge is TINY and the amount of water it covers could be swam across in less than 5 minutes. It’s baffling to see such a nonthreatening bridge and know that within minutes it turned into a scene of devastation.
I’m thankful to be safe from the flooding here in Phnom Penh. All of my friends who live in the provinces and have families in the countryside are all safe from harm although they struggle to get around. We have a week off from work during the Water Festival and my plan was not to be in the city. From what I hear the streets close down and people are everywhere all the time. Now that the festival has been cancelled I’m not sure what the city will look like but I am still planning on taking advantage of a few days off to travel around the country some more. The rains are finally starting to subside and hopefully by that time they will have come to a complete stop. Let’s cross our fingers.
HERE'S TO NOW 