?People work along the river bank to build a temporary dyke in Pakse, Laos, on July 30, 2018. The governor of Lao province Champasak, Bounthong Divixay, said that until Monday, the water level of the Mekong River is 49 centimeters above the warning line and over a hundred villages around the province are flooded, including 24 villages of the province's capital city Pakse, local media reported on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun)
VIENTIANE, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The governor of Lao province Champasak, Bounthong Divixay, said that until Monday, the water level of the Mekong River is 49 centimeters above the warning line and over a hundred villages around the province are flooded, including 24 villages of the province's capital city Pakse, local media reported on Tuesday.
On Monday, high water level was very obvious in Pakse, which sits at the confluence of the Mekong and the Xe Don rivers, and some local people, convened by the local government, are now working along the river bank to build a temporary dyke.
"The dyke is about 2 km long, and we have been working here for 5 days. It is the first time we build a dyke here in 10 years," a police school student working there told Xinhua.
Inside Pakse city, some houses, even some communities built in lower places are also flooded.
According to Bounthong, a total of 161 villages are affected by the floods across the southern Lao province.
He also said that the water level may continue to rise and more lands may be flooded.
