Cambodia flood fears

A boy swims in the swollen Mekong river

Officials in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh have warned the the city could be flooded by the waters of the Mekong river.

In recent weeks floods have already cost more than 100 lives in Vietnam and Cambodia - and the situation is getting worse.

Cambodian officials say the water levels there are the highest for 70 years.

This year's floods have affected four countries - Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam but it is Cambodia that seems to have suffered the most.

Monks pick their way through flooded streets near Phnom Penh

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to move though aid workers in the city say that so far the dykes around the capital seem to be holding.

Some of the city's one million residents have been preparing for the worst.

They have been stocking up on food supplies, despite appeals from the authorities to stop panic buying.

Reports from southern Vietnam now indicate that 19 people in the Mekong delta have died as a result of the floods.

The rising water levels have forced about 150,000 people to abandon their homes.

The situation in Vietnam is likely to get worse before it starts improving as the water levels are still rising.

And for those who have abandoned their homes the outlook is bleak. They will not be able to get back to their houses until the water has subsided and that will not happen until November.

The Red Cross is launching a new appeal for emergency aid to help the victims.

The monsoon has been unusually widespread

Red Cross spokesman John Geoghegan said the Red Cross would be meeting donors to try to raise $1.5m to supplement Vietnam's own $2m relief efforts.

"It's a definite humanitarian disaster with very large numbers of people affected, and it's going to get worse," he added.

The money will go to providing rice, boats, mosquito nets, and plastic sheeting for emergency shelters.

Please help Cambodian people in these hard times

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

The Red Cross said the deluge had transformed rice paddies and rural communities into "desolate lakes".

"As far as the eye can see, all you see are the roofs of houses and eucalyptus trees," added Mr Geoghegan.

"From time to time, you come across dykes with 200-300 families living on them, slowly crumbling."

The Red Cross says the unusually widespread monsoon floods have deluged nearly 800,000 sq km of land in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.