September 30, 2009
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Typhoon Ketsana has killed at least 11 people in northeastern and central Cambodia, police and government officials said Wednesday, after the storm left another 38 dead in Vietnam.
Nine were killed and 35 injured in central Cambodia while two died in the northeast overnight as the country was battered by the storm, officials said.
"At least nine people were crushed last night when their houses fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in central Kampong Thom province.
Chea Cheat added that at least 92 houses in his province were destroyed Tuesday evening and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from their inundated homes, Ray Rai, police chief of northeastern Ratanakiri province, told AFP.
The storm packed winds of up to 145 kilometres (90 miles) per hour when it hit central Cambodia Tuesday evening, Ly Thuch, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management.
Seth Vannareth, director of Cambodia's department of meteorology, said Cambodians were experiencing high flooding but the storm's winds were decreasing as it moved over the country towards Laos.
"It will not be very strong anymore. It is not a typhoon anymore," she said.
Officials at the Mekong River Commission predicted heavy rains would raise the Mekong's level one metre (3.3 feet) in parts of Cambodia and Laos, but said the long intra-country river was not at risk of flooding its banks.
At least 284 were killed in the Philippines and Vietnam as Ketsana wreaked havoc across the region.
International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food to affected people while assessing damage across at least five of the country's provinces.
