Scores of children among dead in South-East Asia flooding: officials

Cambodian children are among those killed in floods. Photo: Cambodian children swim in flood waters at a village in Kandal province on Monday. (AFP: Tang Chhin Sothy)

Posted Mon 7 Oct 2013, 11:52pm AEDT

Scores of children are among more than 150 people who have died in floods drenching swathes of South-East Asia in recent weeks, officials say.

And a tree has smashed into a 12th century temple at Cambodia's Angkor complex, damaging the stone structure.

Heavy rains have waterlogged homes and farmland across the region as recent typhoons worsened the annual rainy season.

In Cambodia, the death toll from floods since mid-September stood at 83 on Monday, nearly half of them children, according to the National Disaster Management Committee.

More than 10,000 families have been evacuated, while hundreds of schools and dozens of homes have been flooded.

Heavy rain and strong wind also uprooted a 30-metre tree and sent it crashing into the ancient Preah Khan temple in the country's famed Angkor complex in the north-eastern Siem Reap province on Friday.

"The tree knocked part of the temple structure, causing some stones to fall off. But the temple itself did not collapse," said Im Sokrithy of the Apsara Authority which manages the World Heritage archaeological site.

In Thailand, authorities say 34 people have been killed and 1.9 million have seen their homes or livelihoods damaged by the flooding.

Typhoon Wutip left a trail of destruction in Vietnam in late September, with high winds that ripped the roofs off nearly 200,000 houses according to state media. The country has seen some 40 deaths in flooding since early September.

Cambodia's floods have prompted the government again to cancel the annual water festival in front of the royal palace in Phnom Penh.

The festival, which usually draws millions of people, was also cancelled in 2011 and 2012, due to severe floods and the death of former King Norodom Sihanouk respectively.

More than 350 people were killed in a stampede on a bridge during the water festival celebration in 2010.

AFP