Floating officials visit flooded village

KRABI: Villagers in Ao Luek district have been using boats to get to and from their houses after torrential flooding has left their neighborhood under water for the past month.

Following complaints filed with the Ao Luek Administration Organization (OrBorTor), Ao Luek District chief Chaiwut Buathong examined the site on Tuesday.

Approximately 300 meters of roadway have been flooded in the Ao Luek Noi sub-district.

Kallayanee Na Nakorn, 35, filed a complaint last week that her house and two other neighboring houses had been affected by flooding for more than a month. Ms Kallayanee also said that 50 rai of her fruit plantation sustained irreparable damage in the flooding.

“The Ao Luek OrBorTor gave us a boat, but that doesn’t help us very much. We want a permanent solution, not a boat,” said Ms Kallayanee.

“The flood water can’t go anywhere because the area is like the surface of a pan. It is surrounded by mountains. We gave them boats so they could live their lives as best they can while the flood continues,” said Mr Chaiwut after investigating the area with local officials.

“Some people claimed that the flooding was caused by our pipe installation project, but that isn’t true.”

Mr Chaiwut added that they were planning to build a dam as a permanent solution, but did not specify how long that would take or what the budget for such a project might be.

— Winai Sarot