04.10.09 North and South continues to reel under floods
Many areas of the northern, northeastern and southern regions
continued to suffer flooding after heavy rains and Prime Minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday instructed state agencies to closely follow
the situation and to promptly provide assistance to flood victims.
Flash floods reportedly hit many provinces early yesterday, including Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Tak and Phetchabun. Urging
the public to follow weather reports, Abhisit said he was ready to
visit the flood-affected areas to give moral support and relief to the
people who have been heavily hit by the floods. Despite official
assistance being delivered, the water level in some areas not only did
not recede but was rising, particularly after continuing rain, he said. During
his visit yesterday to flood victims in Phichit, Labour Minister
Phaithoon Kaeothong said that the government had invested the
Bt300-million budget to employ the workers affected by flooding at
their hometowns in a bid to prevent them from pouring into Bangkok in
search of jobs. The flood-hit provinces were instructed to survey and
assist the affected workers by hiring them at about Bt150 per day. Phichit's 271 villages and 33,595 rai of farmland in 12 districts have suffered inundation since September 25. Ang
Thong's Pa Moke district saw 10 riverside homes being flooded as the
Chao Phya River Dam released 1,600 cubic metres of water on the
previous night. Chai Nat's Wat Sing district also suffered forest
floods yesterday at 10am, affecting 600 homes and 3,000 rai of farmland. In
Ubon Ratchathani's Warin Chamrap district, deputy national police chief
General Pansiri Prapawat yesterday delivered 200 relief bags granted by
HM the King to the flood victims as 11 communities along Mun River
there were under water. Chaiyaphum's Phakdi Chumphol district reported
a landslide, blocking the Nakhon Sawan-Chaiyaphum Road, while some
1,500 houses were damaged by floods. Up North, two days of
heavy rains triggered flash floods at 4am yesterday, affecting 500
families in six villages of Chiang Mai's Doi Tao district. The
neighbouring province of Lamphun saw 1,000 residents in Li district
flee a flash flood at 3am. The worst flash flood in 60
years hit 11 villages in Lampang's Mae Phrik district yesterday and
swept away 10 houses located on the banks of Huai Mae Phrik stream and
threatened to destroy 20 nearby homes. Local officials and soldiers hastily helped villagers evacuate and move belongings. An 80-year-old blind man died from drowning. Eight
villages in Lampang's Thoen district saw a flash flood destroy homes,
roads and farmlands, some areas of which were two metres under water. Twenty
villages in Phetchabun were marooned and under nearly two metres of
water. Local soldiers, two GMC trucks and two flat-bottomed boats were
dispatched to assist the victims. Some 400 houses in Tak's
Sam Ngao and Ban Tak districts were flooded as the Wang River
overflowed yesterday. About 1,500 relief bags were promptly sent to the
victims there. Forest flood in Mae Ramat district also broke a
100-metre-long bridge across the Mae Teun River, marooning nine
villages even as the river level rose amid continuing rains. In
Pattani's Muang district, 13 crew members, whose fishing boat had sunk
in Malaysian waters in the rough seas on Friday, returned to the
Pattani Jetty yesterday. However, 13 others remained missing.
Authorities in Pattani are contacting concerned agencies in both
Thailand and Malaysia to help search for them.
Source: The Nation, 04.10.09 http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/04/national/national_30113698.php
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