Southern Floods Force Rail Service Suspensions, School Closures

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Southern floods force rail service suspensions, school closures

NARATHIWAT, Jan 5 (TNA) - Floods impacting the insurgency-torn province of Narathiwat forced the suspension of rail services for a second day on Monday, while eight schools in nearby Yala were closed indefinitely.

Continuous rain triggered flooding as deep as one metre in Narathiwat's 13 districts, affecting about 32,000 local residents.

Rangae and Wang districts were reportedly the hardest-hit areas.

Fourteen trains to and from Sungai Kolok have been suspended for a second day as authorities said that it would take several more days to finish repairs to the tracks.

Floodwater earlier damaged rail tracks in Ra-ngae district for 100-metre long, forcing southbound trains to suspend services since Sunday.

Meanwhile, three districts of Yala province--Raman, Krong Pinang and Yaha—were still struggling with floodwaters.

Director of Yala Education Office 1 Attasit Rattanaklaew said that flooding forced seven schools in Raman district and one school in the provincial seat to close indefinitely.

Veroj Saithongtae, chief of the Yala disaster emergency response office, said that flooding in the three districts affected nearly 19,000 residents and damaged about 1,750 rai of crops.

In a bid to alleviate the flooding problems Yala governor Thira Minthrasak, announced a one million baht emergency fund for each flood-affected district, representing an overall allocation of Bt3 million to combat the disaster.

According to the report of the Meteorological Department, the situation will return to normal soon if there is no heavy rainfall for several days. (TNA)

Source: MCOT TNA news