Torrential rains submerge Thai south, toll hits 18
NAKHON SI THAMMARAT , Thailand: Heavy rains continued to hammer Thailand’s flood-ravaged south yesterday, bringing the death toll up to 18 and leaving thousands of villages partially submerged, authorities said. The flooding, which was roof-high in some areas, has affected nearly one million people in ten southern provinces since it started a week ago, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
At least 18 people have died and one is missing, it added, with the rains turning roads into rivers, inundating farmland and damaging more than 1,500 schools in the region. The downpour is expected to persist for at least two more days, according to Thailand’s Meteorological Department, which warned of flash floods. “The situation is very bad today and tomorrow. It’s still raining heavily,” said Junjuda Pornsri, a meterological official.
Military bases across the region have been mobilized to help evacuate flood victims, provide temporary shelters and distribute emergency aid, the government said yesterday. In hard-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat province, two army helicopters were deployed to airlift food to families trapped inside their homes in Cha-uat district. Bapha Suthiphanya, a 60-year-old who has spent the past three nights in a makeshift government shelter in the district, said she was forced to evacuate her home after the waters rose above her head.
“I was so shocked and scared. I’ve never seen water like this and I also cannot swim,” she told AFP.
Peak tourist season
The monsoon rains are unusually heavy for this time of year in Thailand, which normally sees a three-month stretch of relatively dry and cool weather starting in November. It is high season for tourists who flock to the kingdom’s island resorts, powering a crucial sector of the economy.
But the deluge has already disrupted beach holidays in several traveller hotspots, including the popular islands of Samui and Phangan. Hundreds of tourists have had their flights delayed, while train and bus services on the mainland have also been suspended. Yet some travellers are refusing to let the storm stop the fun, with photos doing the rounds on social media of tourists coasting through flooded streets on pool floats, sipping drinks. — AFP