Champhone sits in the Mekong lowlands of southern Laos, where the wet season from May through October brings heavy rainfall to the country’s most agriculturally productive region.
In Savannakhet province, the town’s low-lying position near the Mekong floodplain ties its flood risk to the river’s seasonal rise. The catastrophic 2018 collapse of the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam in Attapeu province, which released a wall of water that devastated downstream villages, remains a stark reminder of how quickly this region’s rivers can turn dangerous during the wet season, and radar tracking of intense rain bands is an important complement to dam and river monitoring here. Learn more: Flash Flood Warning Signs on Radar · Open the full Rain Map