Govt pledges aid to victims of fatal floods

The government has pledged financial aid to help the victims of deadly floods that have swept across many parts of the country in recent days.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered cabinet ministers to visit flood-affected communities and provide assistance to victims, PM’s Office deputy spokeswoman Sunisa Lertpakawat said after a cabinet meeting yesterday.

Families of anyone killed in the floods will receive 25,000 baht in assistance, she said. That sum will be doubled if the victim was the family’s primary breadwinner. Each injured victim will receive 3,000 baht to help cover medical costs.

The most recent fatality took place yesterday in Chiang Rai’s Mae Suai district, where a local was killed by a falling tree.

The Interior Ministry told cabinet that floods have affected 20,819 households in 14 districts of seven provinces.

The cabinet approved a 5-millionbaht budget sought by the Education Ministry to rebuild a school in Tak that was badly damaged by floods.

In Kanchanaburi, workers at Wang Ka tambon municipality in Sangkhla Buri district yesterday raced against time to repair a pipeline that feeds the municipality’s tap water production facilities.

A 50m section of the pipe was cut off by flash floods that hit areas around the pipeline’s origin point near Song Ka Lia Bridge.

Meanwhile in Tak, almost 1,000 people in Mae Sot district were evacuated yesterday after the Moei River burst its banks.

The floods inundated many houses in Mae Ku Noi and Mae Kumai Thasung villages.

Tak governor Suriya Prasartbandit yesterday led provincial officials to distribute packed rice and dried food to locals in Pracharak and Jog communities in Mae Sot, where the floodwater was reported to be about 1m deep.

Mr Suriya said heavy rain fell on the Mae Sot area, which borders Myanmar, on Sunday causing flash flooding in tambons Mae Ku, Pha Daeng, Mae Sot, Mae Tao, Mae Kasa, Mae Pa and Sai Luad.

Mae Sot customs office chief Pongthep Buasap said the flooding had halted ThaiMyanmar border trade, with estimated losses of around 100 million baht every day.