More heavy rains to hit country
A next round of torrential rain is expected to slam already heavily soaked provinces in the northern and northeastern regions of Thailand early this week as a new depression in the Gulf of Tonkin will make landfall in southern China.
The rainstorm, with a wind speed of 55 kilometres per hour, is likely to whip mainland China between today and tomorrow, bringing further downpours to neighbouring countries, including Thailand which already bore the brunt of tropical storm Son-Tinh last week.
The Meteorological Department issued a warning yesterday, telling people to brace for widespread and heavy rainfall, which looks set to worsen flooding. Combined with the strong southwestern monsoon, which is causing rough sea waves in the South, the current weather conditions must be closely monitored, the department said.
This is bad news for flood victims, especially those living near Thai-Myanmar border, whose numbers keep rising, as well as villagers in Kanchanaburi’s remote district of Sangkhla Buri who yesterday saw inundation ease only to be plunged into new worry. About 500 residents in four villages of the district were earlier evacuated to escape flood waters, which were as high as five metres.
The most chaotic scene was witnessed at a construction site of the second ThaiMyanmar Friendship Bridge in Tak’s Mae Sot district yesterday. Overflow from the Moei River burst into a campsite of 300 workers who rushed out of their houses, some of which were almost covered by the flood waters.
They desperately converted containers used to mix cement into boats and tied large water drums to the children, hoping it would help them “float,” as they waded through waters to temporary shelters set up by officials on higher grounds.
In Mae Ramat district, mountain runoff triggered flash flood in a community of 20 householders and a rapid increase of water in Mae Lamao creek made two village bridges unpassable, Bunsong Bunpramuk, mayor of tambon Mae Charao municipality, said.
Five boats, loaded with survival kits, were already sent to affected areas, he said.
Storm water also flooded parts of a road connecting two villages — Ban Sop Mae Lo and Ban So Khong — in the neighbouring province of Mae Hong Son. Only large vehicles can pass the route, now under 60 centimetres of water. “There were both flooding and mudslides on many sections of the road,” a local official said. It caused traffic closures in many areas and “rain showed no sign of receding,” he said.
In Nan, officials are searching for a woman who was washed away by a strong current while returning from her farmland in Ban Khun Kun in Pua district. Torrential rain also caused mudslides on the road leading to Doi Phukha National Park, a scenic mountain in the same district.
The impact of the Son-Tinh storm was also felt in Prachuap Khiri Khan where goods transport between Thailand and Myanmar through Singkorn border checkpoint has been cut for a week.