A sudden rainshower turns Phnom Penh streets into a lake

April 2003

Police directing traffic in flooded intersection
Motorcycles waiting for flooded intersection to clear
An interesting note: the blue-shirted traffic police (above) do not normally work or offer assistance to the traveling public. They stand on the corners looking for people they can stop and get bribes from. It was really unusual to see four of them actually out in the intersection, standing in water.
Flooded intersection
Flooded side street
These side streets (above) are not paved, so those traveling them through the waters really make a leap of faith with the bumps, holes, and open sewers all invisible.
Hiring a cyclo to negotiate the floods
School girls walk home through the water
Floods are not an uncommon experience in Phnom Penh so people learn to adjust. One woman above plans to use a cyclo to keep dry while school girls on the way home just splash along.
Father delivers his son through the water
Flooded dirt side street
One young boy gets a ride home from school on his father's motorcyle. And there's no dust today on this dirt road!

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