Thousands evacuated amid Mekong flooding

Pang and Sesan districts has also receded,” he said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, he said 67 families had been relocated from the two districts to safe areas, while over 200 families will be evacuated on Wednesday if the water keeps rising.

The spokesperson denied media reports that more corpses of victims in the Lao dam collapse had been found floating in the province.

“We’ve found only one dead body from Laos. We’ve contacted its consul and they will arrive to collect the body,” he said.

The provincial department of water resources and meteorology said it had set up a water pump to release floods from Stung Treng town.

In Kratie province, provincial hall spokesman Pen Linat said although rising floodwaters had inundated Kratie town and four other districts, no major impact has been caused because of it.

“Kratie has no problem. People are used to living near the river. Even if their houses are flooded, they would not relocate. They just take their animals to higher ground,” he said.

Linat said four schools in the province which were flooded had been ordered closed.

“Some schools have been shuttered to prevent accidents, while the end of the academic year is approaching,” he said.

Grade 12 students, he said, would not be affected by floods as their examination centres a r e s i t u a t e d o n h i g h e r ground.

The National Committee for Disaster Management spokesperson Keo Vy said flood levels had risen fast, but the authorities and relevant ministries have already drawn up plans to handle it.

“The water level goes up as announced by the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. In the next few days, more schools will be inundated, but authorities are already well prepared,” he said.

The ministry’s spokesman Chan Yutha told ThePost that the water level will reach emergency levels in some provinces in the next few days.

He added that those along the rivers, including Stung Treng, Kratie, Kampong Cham and Tbong Khmum, will face challenges as nearby areas have already been inundated.