Mekong higher than 2000 flood levels

August 20, 2008
ABC Radio Australia

High flood waters are continuing to move down the Mekong River.

The Mekong River Commission says the river from northern Thailand to central Cambodia is higher than it was in 2000, when the worst floods in four decades struck southern Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government has ordered rescue forces to be ready to move people from dangerous areas in southern Vietnam, where the Mekong river reaches the South China Sea.

Cambodian disaster management officials have alerted villagers of rising waters and authorities have prepared 4,000 boats and life-jackets for vulnerable areas in the eastern provinces of Kampong Cham and Kratie.

Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain.

Vietnam, Cambodia brace for Mekong floods, crops safe

By Ho Binh Minh

HANOI, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Rising Mekong floods upstream may cause landslides and deep inundation in Cambodia and southern Vietnam but the seasonal floodwater would also bring farmers good crops of rice and fish, officials said on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese government said rescue forces must be ready to move people from dangerous areas in southern Vietnam, where the Mekong river reaches the South China Sea after travelling more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from Tibet through Laos and Cambodia.

Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain.

Cambodia has alerted villagers of rising waters and the authorities have prepared 4,000 boats and life-jackets for the vulnerable areas in the eastern provinces of Kampong Cham and Kratie, the national disaster management committee said.

The Mekong River Commission said the river from northern Thailand to central Cambodia was higher than it was in 2000, when the worst floods in four decades struck southern Vietnam.

"Floods in the Cuu Long River Delta happen every year, so people are used to taking preventive measures for crops and life," Le Van Banh, director of the Mekong Delta-based Rice Institute, told Reuters by telephone from Can Tho city.

"In the past floods caused problem to transportation and it was hard for children to come to school, but in recent years Vietnam has built protective dykes and residential areas above the flood-peaking level," he said.

RICE FIELD CLEANING

About 20 percent of Vietnam's 86.5 million people live in the Cuu Long River Delta, the Vietnamese name for the Mekong river, which produces more than half of the country's paddy output but supplies more than 90 percent of its commercial rice.

Rice growers say they will get extra income from fishing when flooding is high and after they end the summer rice harvest. Flood waters also clean up alum, pests and rats from fields while bringing more fertile soil.

"Since the floods are to wash away alum, we expect the yield of the next winter-spring rice crop to be good, at least on par with this year," Banh said.

The winter-spring crop, the Delta's top yielding, produced 10 million tonnes of paddy in April with a yield of 6.2 tonnes per hectare, prompting the government to raise Vietnam's annual rice exports by 13 percent from earlier targets [nSP283104].

FAST-RISING WATERS

Seasonal floods appeared slowly in the Delta in July, a month earlier than usual. But this week flood waters are rising faster from heavy rains upstream two weeks ago, including the downpours that caused flash floods in northern Vietnam.

"Floods are forecast to rise above the average level in many years," said Vo Thanh, a meteorologist in An Giang, one of the Mekong Delta's main rice growing provinces.

Waters are expected to rise to 3.5 metres (12 feet) above sea level at Tan Chau gauging station on Friday, or 0.1 metre below the Alarm Level Two, which indicates inundation and danger of river bank and dyke erosion but towns are still protected.

In 2000, the Delta experienced the worst floods in four decades as waters rose to more than 5 metres, killing nearly 500 people, more than 300 of them children.

Since then the government has launched a campaign to protect life and property, having built 82,000 new homes, relocated 110,000 families or 80 percent of those living in dangerous areas, and opened swimming class for children and teachers.

However, about 30,000 families living near rivers are still facing risk of landslides, according to provincial figures.

(Additional reporting by Ek Madra in PHNOM PENH; Editing by Paul Tait)

Stung Treng, Kratie and Kg Cham under flash flood watch

THAILAND: Worst Mekong river flooding in 100 years

NONG KHAI, 18 August 2008 (IRIN) - It is 4pm and Pranee Soongkhaeng is hurriedly piling up sandbags in a bid to prevent flooding in front of her shop on Meechai Street in Nhon Khai Province, northeast Thailand, close to the Mekong river bank. Sandbags are stacked in front of every row of houses along the riverside road to prevent inundation.

“The water level of the Mekong river keeps rising and now it’s reached the street in front of my house,” Pranee told IRIN. “We don’t know when the water is going to recede because this is just the beginning of the monsoon season.”

The Mekong river has exceeded its highest recorded level of 12.38 metres in 1966, inundating homes and farmland from 9 August in the northern province of Chiang Rai all the way to the northeastern province of Nakhon Panom. Floods which, according to the Interior Ministry, are the worst in 100 years, have caused estimated damage of 223 million baht (US$66.5 million) thus far in Thailand.

In the northeastern province of Nong Khai, the river level was measured at 13.20 metres on 16 August, according to the Water Resources Department.

Disaster zones

Overflows from the river caused floodwater up to two metres deep in Sang Kom and Sri Chiang Mai districts, leaving hundreds of homes submerged and several roads impassable for small vehicles.

The Nong Khai provincial disaster prevention office declared the two riverside districts disaster zones and in need of clean water and waterborne disease prevention.

Thailand’s Water Resources Department director-general Siripong Hungspreuk said heavy downpours from upstream China and Laos, as well as in upper northern Thailand caused the river to reach such high levels.

Although the authorities expect the flood waters to recede during the coming week, riverside communities along the Mekong are still being warned to brace themselves for possible flash flooding and evacuate their belongings to higher ground, Siripong said.

Water from the Mekong river has overflowed its banks and inundated villages and farmland not only in Thailand but also in the other three Mekong river basin countries - Cambodia,Laos and Vietnam.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology has warned residents in upper Stung Treng, Kratie and Kampong Cham Provinces to be vigilant for flash flooding and prepare for evacuation to higher ground, and large areas of both Laos and Vietnam have been inundated.

In Laos, four people were killed in flooding and landslides last week. Police have closed roads leading to the riverbank in Vientiane to make it easier for trucks delivering sandbags. A levée was built along the river's northern bank after flooding in some parts of the city. Despite severe floods, the former capital of Luang Prabang has escaped flood damage to its ancient Buddhist temples and pagodas, the official Vientiane Times reported.

China dams suspected

In Thailand, some local residents and environmentalists told IRIN they suspected Chinese dams and the destruction of small Mekong river islands to clear passage for Chinese cargo ships had aggravated flooding in the region. They also blamed the Mekong River Commission (MRC) - set up in 1995 by the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to manage the Mekong river - for failure to warn people about the flooding.

However, MRC issued a statement on 15 August saying the present situation was the result of abnormally high water runoff in the northern part of the Mekong basin following heavy rainfall caused by tropical storm Kammuri which pasted through 9-11 August.

Montree Chantawong, campaign coordinator of the Bangkok-based Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance, told IRIN: “Although it cannot be said for sure that the Chinese dams were to blame for the inundation, they are certainly contributing to ecological and hydrological changes in the river.”

Somkiat Khuaenchiangsa, a coordinator of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group, urged the MRC members to reassess the need for dams in China and Laos since the planned construction could effect the water flow and the hydrology of the lower Mekong basin.

“We cannot underestimate how intense rainstorms and flooding will be, but we can prevent or lessen the damage caused by man-made disaster,” Somkiat said.

Official: Lao flooding not danger for Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The current flooding in Laos wouldn't cause any serious danger for Cambodia, although the two neighboring countries share water from the Mekong River, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily Saturday quoted an official as saying.

"The water (here) hasn't risen (to those levels in Laos) and there is nothing to be worried about," said Nhim Vanda, vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management

He had contacted his equivalent department in Laos for information about rising water levels and then became confident that the problems there wouldn't extend downstream to Cambodia, he said.

Cambodia was well insulated from rising water levels in Laos because of the number of lakes available here for any excess water to drain into, he said.

The Mekong River in Kratie province was around 20 meters high, a normal level for this time of the year and the secondary rivers, lakes and the Tonle Sape River were all at safe levels, he said.

"Even if the water comes strongly, we have a lot of places to store," he added.

The Mekong River Commission Friday reported that the Mekong River hit its highest level in Laos in 100 years, adding that Cambodia would likely suffer from the after-effects as the flood water moved downstream.

Mekong hits highest level in at least 100 years

BANGKOK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain, officials said on Friday.

The communist government and private citizens in the landlocked Southeast Asian country have been rushing to complete a 2.5 metre (8 ft) wall of sandbags to stop water inundating the capital, Vientiane.

Police have closed roads leading to the riverbank to make it easier for trucks delivering sandbags, the official Vientiane Times reported.

"We've been fighting very hard day and night for four days, but after today the water level should recede," government spokesman Yong Chanhthalansy told Reuters in Bangkok.

The Mekong, which starts in the glaciers of Tibet and ends 4,350 km (2,700 miles) away in the rice-rich delta of southern Vietnam, hit 13.68 metres in Vientiane on Thursday, trouncing a high of 12.38 metres recorded in 1966, the worst floods in living memory.

That depth -- measured roughly from the river's lowest level in the dry season -- could rise slightly on Friday before retreating, Yong said.

Vietnam was recently hit by heavy rains, floods and mudslides as the remnants of a tropical storm caused the country's worst floods in four decades. At least 120 people were killed and another 44 remain missing.

In Vientiane, a levee was built along the Mekong's northern bank after the 1966 flooding but has been overrun in places, causing flooding in parts of the city of 200,000, one resident said.

There had been widespread flooding upstream and north of Vientiane, although the former royal capital of Luang Prabang had escaped with no damage to its ancient Buddhist pagodas, Yong said.

Downstream, eastern Thailand and low-lying Cambodia, where the annual flooding of the Mekong is crucial to rice and fish production, are braced for the rising waters. Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, sits right on the bank of the river.

Government officials said they had warned people living near the Mekong in the provinces of Kompong Cham, Kratie and Stung Treng to move their families and livestock to higher ground.

(Reporting by Ed Cropley and Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould and Valerie Lee)