Floods hit North, central provinces

Floods are hitting many lower North and Central provinces folฌlowing several days of heavy rains in the areas.

In Uttaradit, many Chiang Maibound trains from Bangkok have been suspended after sections of the railways were inundated. Commuters were forced to use buses after the trains stopped runฌning due to the flooding.

A warning about possible landฌslides has been issued in Uttaradit, where many people were killed in separate incidents two years ago. A total of 189 villages in Lablae, Muang and Tha Pla districts are still at risk of landslides or mudslides.

In neighbouring Phrae, both passenger and cargo trains heading to Bangkok have been stuck for days, but they were expected to be back in service yesterday evening after the railway lines were repaired, said senior State Railways of Thailand official Charn Tansiri.

In Kamphaengphet, thousands of rai of farmland are under floodฌwater and more than 40 families are stranded. Monks are starving and receiving food from villages after they stopped taking morning alms due to flooding.

In Tak's Mae Sot district, more than 500 families have been strandฌed by floods, and many schools have been damaged.

In Chaiyaphum in the Northeast, thousands of rai of farmland are either under water or damaged. People living by the Chi River have been warned to watch out for flash floods.

In Chaiyanat, eight villages located downstream to the Chao Phya Dam are flooded after water was released to avoid excessive capacity. The flooding also hit two districts in neighbouring Ang Thong, inundating 230 households there.

In the central province of Ayutthaya, where high floodwater is a regular occurrence every wet seaฌson, preventive measures are being carried out and embankments being built, although the water level is not yet high.

-- The Nation 2008-11-03

How often does this need to happen before there is some form of coordination between provincial flood control authorities? Perhaps if the plans for flood control were raised in priority a bit against the government plans for industrialisation then the lot of the Thai farmer would be improved as well as the valued-added town and city dwellers.

This year, despite the promising start, forebodes a grim short to medium future for the Thai nation. For those of us that have been here long enough to remember the BOI rain clouds to sunshine four stage graphic, I fear history is about to repeat itself.

Not so many years ago over 60% of the Thai population were classified as farmers, so now with export outlook so bleak, where will the soon to be displaced "were" rural children go? The rice bowl will not be deep enough.....