Floods kill eight people in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Aug 21: Torrential rains swelling the annual Mekong floods have killed at least eight Cambodians and damaged several thousand hectares (acres) of paddy fields, officials said today.

The government was seeking United Nations help to get food to thousands of villagers made homeless by the floods, Nhim Vanda, deputy chairman of the national disaster committee, told Reuters.

Cambodia's Red Cross had distributed food to nearly 10,000 people in the southern province of Kampot, the hardest hit, but others were still awaiting help, provincial governor Thach Khorn said.

Four people were killed in Kampot, where the floods had damaged more than 10,000 acres of paddy fields, he said.

In the western province of Kampong Speu, a 14-year-old girl was swept away by a flash flood while cutting grass to feed cattle and two children drowned in the northeastern province of Kratie, officials said.

Nhim Vanda said that while the floods had damaged rice crops in the short term, they might be beneficial overall.

''Floods have killed people and destroyed infrastructures, but at the same time they are also bringing fertile marsh soil,'' he said.

The floods also damaged roads, bridges and schools, officials said.

REUTERS