Floods claim 11 lives in South

PHUKET: Eleven people drowned, two others were injured and two people are missing due to flooding in southern Thailand over the past four days, Mr Chatchai Promlert, director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said yesterday.

He said the floods affected 157,580 families in 68 districts in the 10 southern provinces of Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Krabi, Trang, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat. Phuket has not been directly affected.

Mr Chatchai said two had died in Surat Thani, three in Nakhon Si Thammarat, two in Songkhla, two in Phatthalung, and two in Pattani.

Meanwhile, Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Prime Minister Prayut
Chan-o-cha was closely monitoring the flooding situation in the South and the prime minister had ordered local government agencies to coordinate efforts to help flood victims as much as possible.

Nakhon Si Thammarat Governor Chamroen Tipyapongthada said yesterday that flooding there had affected 1,245 villages in 18 districts.

Four train routes to Trang and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces had to stop at Thung Song district in Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday due to the flooding, according to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) in Thung Song. Stranded passengers were bused to their destinations instead.

In Surat Thani, Governor Uaychai Innak said the floods had affected 18,117 families in 421 villages in 14 districts.

In Songkhla province, the provincial disaster mitigation office reported that two five-year-old girls had drowned in the province in floods that hit six districts – Muang, Hat Yai, Na Mom, Saba Yoi, Sadao and Ranot. The office reported that the situation was improving after rains stopped and the bloated rivers had subsided to normal levels.

In Trang, some 20,000 people in seven districts were affected, where 15,000 rai (2,400 hectares) of farmland were damaged.

In Nayong, a mudslide blocked a main village road, prompting officials to use a bulldozer to clear it.

Troops from Phraya Rassadanupradit Fort yesterday handed out bags of food and other necessities to villagers in Moo 4 village in Tambon Lamphura, Huay Yot. Villagers had to wade through chest-high water to receive the help.

— Nation & Gazette Reporters