Death toll rises as torrential rains submerge Thai south
NAKHON SI THAMMARAT, Thailand: Heavy rains continued to hammer Thailand’s floodravaged south yesterday, bringing the death toll up to 12 and leaving thousands of villages partially submerged, authorities said.
The flooding, which was roofhigh in some areas, has affected more than 700,000 people since it started a week ago, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
At least 12 people have died, according to the ministry and local officials, with the rain turning roads into rivers, inundating farmland and damaging more than 1,500 schools in the region.
The downpour is expected to persist for at least two more days, according to Thailand’s Meteorological Department, which warned of flash floods.
“The situation is very bad today and tomorrow. It’s still raining heavily,” said Junjuda Pornsri, a meterological official.
Military bases across the region have been mobilised to help evacuate flood victims, provide temporary shelters and distribute emergency aid, the government said.
In hard-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat province, two army helicopters were deployed to airlift food to families trapped inside their homes in Cha-uat district.
Bapha Suthiphanya, a 60-yearold who has spent the past three nights in a makeshift government shelter in the district, said she was forced to evacuate her home after the waters rose above her head.
“I was so shocked and scared. I’ve never seen water like this and I also can not swim,” she told AFP.
The monsoon rains are unusually heavy for this time of year in Thailand, which normally sees a three-month stretch of relatively dry and cool weather starting in November.
It is high season for tourists who flock to the kingdom’s island resorts, powering a crucial sector of the economy.
But the deluge has already disrupted beach holidays in several traveller hotspots, including the popular islands of Samui and Phangan.
Hundreds of tourists have had their flights delayed, while train and bus services on the mainland have also been suspended.
Yet some travellers are refusing to let the storm stop the fun, with photos doing the rounds on social media of tourists coasting through flooded streets on pool floats. — AFP