Following two days of heavy battering by tropical storm Pabuk, Koh Kong authorities are continuing to repair the road alongside Bak Khlong beach, while locals mended their stalls and boats, a provincial spokesman said on Sunday.
Sok Sothy told The Post that the weather in Koh Kong was returning to normal and that waves were no longer causing the sort of damage experienced on Friday and Saturday.
“The waves caused by the Pabuk storm have damaged some parts of the province. Six long-distance tourist boats and some shops were destroyed, but no one was killed or injured,” he said.
Provincial authorities, Sothy said, are cooperating with relevant departments, especially local authorities in Mondul Seima district, to restore roads and the coastline to allow tourists to resume normal activities.
One tourist boat owner, Meng Vathana, 25, a resident of Mondul Seima district’s Bak Khlang commune, said that on Friday night, waves were not especially strong and did not become dangerous until Saturday morning.
He said the sky then turned black and the waves began to surge, causing his boat and his neighbour’s to sink into the dock.
“We ran inland when the big waves came. The seawater flooded stalls on the shoreline and many stalls were damaged by the waves. My boat was completely destroyed after the waves pushed it into the dock and it sank into the sea.”
Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology spokesman Chan Yutha said the storm was no longer affecting Cambodian waters.
On Saturday night, it had begun to head towards the Andaman Sea.