Officials Breach Dam to Stop It From Bursting
Hundreds of families in Battambang province have been evacuated as authorities ordered a section of a dam to be cut away to release pressure on a reservoir that was threatening to burst and engulf the communities beneath it, as heavy rain continues to cause havoc in the country’s western provinces. Chhim Vachira, director of Battambang’s department of agriculture, said that the three existing floodgates had been opened in the 2-km long, 19-km wide Kamping Puoy Bassin dam, which was built as part of an irrigation project by the Khmer Rouge, but they were not funneling water out of the reservoir quickly enough. “The Kamping Puoy Bassin, which can store about 110,000,000 meters cubed of water, was dangerously full so the minister of water resources and meteorology, Lim Kean Hor, gave the order to provincial authorities to cut the dam to release more water,” he said. … Long Phalkun, director of Battambang’s department of water resources and meteorology, said it would have been catastrophic not to act and to risk greater damage to the dam and surrounding areas. “It is a very big dam so it would have been a disaster and many, many people would have died—that is why we needed to do it,” he said. …
Ben Sokhean and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-breach-dam-to-stop-it-from-bursting-44790/
