Dam easing dooms homes
It was late at night when a torrent of water burst through the Kamping Pouy reservoir on October 8 and surged into more than 50 houses effectively sacrificed to stop a potentially catastrophic breach in the dam in Battambang province. With cracks appearing in a dam wall buckling under the pressure of unrelenting flood waters, provincial authorities, already forced to open two of the reservoir’s flood gates, decided to cut a release channel in Banan district’s Ta Kream commune. But their decision to cut the channel in the 19-kilometre-long dam wall abutting a village has incensed its residents, who say they were given inadequate warning and no chance of saving their property. … The Khmer Rouge-era irrigation project covers about 45 square kilometres and has a water storage capacity of about 110 million cubic metres, according to provincial authorities. Long Phalkun, provincial director of the water resources and meteorology department, confirmed that relevant authorities were deployed to deal with the rising waters but declined to elaborate on why a less-populated area was not selected. … All 14 districts in the province have been affected, with evacuations occurring in more than half. Extensive rainfall, poorly managed dams and flash floods have contributed to 60,000 Cambodians leaving their homes in pursuit of dry ground, while more than 150 people have drowned. At least 10 of those deaths were in Battambang. …
Amelia Woodside and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-easing-dooms-homes
