Five days of heavy rain flooded rice fields in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces and some residential areas around Phnom Penh, causing capital residents to question when the city’s long-in-the-works sewage upgrade will finally be completed.

More rainfall is expected to flood the country’s northern provinces, including Ratanakkiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Thom, Kampong Speu, and parts of Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Battambang, according to the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology.

Weather forecasts predict the rain will last for the next seven to eight days.

“It is hard to live when our house is full of smelly water and waste. We do not know when authorities will repair the drainage system in our area,” said Srin Kranh, 56, a resident of Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district.

The sewage water filling his home is knee-deep, Kranh said, adding that his family is also worried about getting an electrical shock.

But Lek Vuthy, a ministry consultant, preached patience, saying that upgrades to Phnom Penh’s sewage system undertaken by Japan would be completed “soon.”

As for provincial woes, Keo Vy, spokesman of the National Committee for Disaster Management, insisted the flooding won’t cause severe damage this year and in fact could provide a boon to unfilled reservoirs.

“Some plantations still don’t have enough water, so it will be good if the water levels rise as forecasted,” he said.