Floods Affect Thousands In Southern Thai Provinces

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Floods affect thousands in Southern provinces

By THE NATION

Surat Thani

At least 200 families in tambon Pak Mak of Surat Thani's Chaiya district were marooned as floods and landslides made roads to the communities impassable.

Meanwhile, the fate of a village headman missing for two days remained unknown.

Surat Thani's 966 villages in 19 districts were hit by floods, affecting 65,295 families or 243,490 people.

As rain and flood water continued to ravage parts of the province, with some landslides reported, at least 200 households in tambon Pak Mak were marooned, while 200 people were evacuated to Klong Mai Daeng School.

The search for missing village headman Chamnan Mai-in continued yesterday after he and three others were swept away by a flood while building a bridge. His three colleagues were rescued.

The Tapi River rose by seven metres, the overflow flooding nearby buildings, including the Phrasaeng Meteorological Office, damaging some office supplies and forcing officials to evacuate to safer ground.

CHUMPHON

A landslide blocked two of the four lanes of Asia Highway 41 (Chumphon-Surat Thani) early yesterday at Chumphon's Lang Suan district.

At 4.30am, the authorities were alerted to a landslide on the highway's 100+73-kilometre marker in tambon Ban Kuan, prompting them to repair the lanes urgently with heavy machines while traffic was diverted to the other two lanes. The repairs took about two hours.

TRANG

A forest flood hit the Nakhon Trang Municipality of Muang Trang district, a second blow to residents who have not yet received their Bt5,000 compensation after last November's flood.

Trang's eight districts - Muang Trang, Na Yong, Ratsada, Huai Yot, Sikao, Wang Wiset, Yan Ta Khao and Palian - were under flood water caused by heavy rain, while the Trang and Palian rivers were rising continuously. About 9,000 families were affected and four homes in Huai Yot were damaged by landslides but there were no deaths or injuries.

While floods hit homes and state offices in Na Yong district and made several roads in the municipality impassable, water run-off from the Banthat Mountain Range yesterday hit Muang Trang district's communities and a couple of main roads.

Phang Nga

The Navy yesterday picked up 76 tourists still stranded on the Surin Islands, but had to leave many more behind.

"There is still enough food and drinking water on the islands for the tourists," said Rear Admiral Rangsarit Sattananukul, chief of staff of the Third Naval Area Command.

The boat is expected to return to the mainland this morning.

Although his unit had already brought back 133 people, the boat could not accommodate all of those remaining in one trip, he said.

After going on holiday to the beautiful islands, about 200 visitors could not return to the mainland because of the severe weather conditions - heavy downpours and waves up to 4 metres high.

Nakhon Si Thammarat

Floods have already claimed 11 lives in this southern province and caused damage estimated at more than Bt300 million.

All 23 districts have been declared disaster zones. In the wake of the rising floodwater level, more than 10 roads have become entirely impassable as heavy downpours continued yesterday.

Locals have also reported sighting several crocodiles. At least 11 escaped from the city's municipal zoo. Although officials are working hard to recapture the reptiles, many were still swimming freely as of press time.

Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality has set up a centre to help flood victims. Those needing assistance can call 199 or 075348118 round the clock.

Locals in Talumpuk peninsula, in Pak Phanang district, yesterday asked Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to allow them to resettle in a 150-rai portion of a mangrove forest.

They have been shaken by the storms and rough seas.

"They just can't live by the seaside any longer," Pak Phanang district chief Wisan Petchkong said.

He said high waves and storms had damaged local people's houses, fishing trawlers and equipment.

"They feel insecure," Wisan said.

He added that flooding had hit people in 17 tambons of his district. At some of the worst-hit spots, floodwater was up to three metres deep.

"It's hard to help the marooned flood victims there because we have to wait for boats," he said.

Phatthalung

The flooding in Phatthalung has disrupted the lives of 163,134 people and left 280,231 animals dead or missing.

According to the disaster prevention and mitigation office in the Southern province, 950 fishponds, 40,754 rai (6,520 hectares) of farmland and 11 schools have been damaged.

At last count, 563 villages in 11 districts had suffered from the inundation.

Penchat Jansa-nga, 48, said she had to sleep on the second floor of her house because the first floor was under water.

"Flooding has ruined my property," she said.

In Ranong, heavy downpours continued throughout the day. Some areas were lashed by strong winds.

Waves were so huge that small and medium-sized fishing trawlers remained anchored.

"We have warned tourists against visiting the seven popular waterfalls in the province," said Chasan Kongruang, chief of the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office.

The risk of flash floods was also clearly increasing, he added.

-- The Nation 2011-03-31