The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has updated its monitoring and flood forecasting front-page website to provide better information on the Mekong conditions to people living along the river.

The upgraded version provides an immediate update as well as overview of the current status of the river condition, including flood forecasting, risk of flash floods, drought forecast, and rainfall distribution over the Lower Mekong River Basin, MRC’s statement stated on Sept. 12.

People who live along the mainstream river like in Chiang Saen in Thailand, Vientiane in Laos, Phnom Penh in Cambodia or Chau Doc in Viet Nam, can now easily see the river conditions on the front page of the MRC website at www.mrcmekong.org, read the statement.

In September 2022, the MRC’s Flood and Drought Forecast and Monitoring page has been revitalised since the last improvement in 2018 with a new interface and more user-friendly navigation.

For flash flooding, districts at risk are marked in eye-catching colour on the interactive map. Although this is the wet season, drought can occur in selected parts of the basin, the MRC said, adding that the information on drought conditions is being forecasted on a weekly basis.

The rainfall distribution over the Basin is visualized from 144 hydro-meteorological stations classified in different rainfall depths, stated the statement.

The Mekong River Basin supports nearly 70 million people, providing energy, transport, tourism and other income-generating development opportunities.

As climate and weather patterns become more volatile, flood and drought events in the Mekong have become more frequent and intense with growing potential to cause devastating damage to the region’s food security and economies, according to MRC.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press