While we’ve been on home leave there’s been severe flooding in areas of Phnom Penh. This has not affected our house or the MCC office, but some staff and MCC partners are in the affected areas. Our Office Manager, Doungchann, shared that the water was up to her stomach on her commute home.

The most dramatic event to come out of the flooding was the collapse of a massive sign on road 2004. Fortunately, no one was hurt by the sign’s collapse but it came close to crushing several people and destroyed several carts and a tuktuk.

The authorities have said that the flooding is due to garbage clogging the drainage systems. This is, undoubtedly, a factor but many Cambodians also believe that developers filling in Phnom Penh’s swamps and lakes are also responsible. Historically, these swamps and lakes acted as sponges absorbing overflow during rainy season. Today there are only two lakes of any note left in Phnom Penh. Our house and the MCC office are within a block of these lakes which is one reason we don’t have this kind of flooding.