ID :
212066
Mon, 10/10/2011 - 14:08
Auther :

Flooding in Thailand puts millions in distress

BANGKOK, October 10 (TNA) - A government report showed Monday that about 30 Thai provinces, mainly in the north and northeast, have been flooded, with at least 261 people now killed and four others still missing.

In the north, five districts of Phitsanulok province have continued to suffer from serious inundations. The Yom and the Nan rivers have been overflowing, with floodwaters exceeding three meters in general. Over 1,000 families there have been evacuated, while temples and schools have been closed for indefinite period.

In Tak province, officials said the Bhumibol dam can receive only 102.63 million more cubic meters of water. Predicted heavy rainfall over the dam on Monday night will require the acceleration of discharges to Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan and other provinces in the Chao Phraya river basin.

In the central plains, an enormous crisis still impacts people in Uthai Thani province. Flood levels have been rising and expanding there, forcing locals to leave their houses for makeshift shelters.

Twenty critical patients have been airlifted from Ang Thong hospital to those nearby in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phetchaburi and Ratchaburi provinces as hospital staff feared a blackout from further flooding.

In the northeast, the Namphong river has overflowed to four more villages in Muang Khon Kaen district of Khon Kaen province, with flood levels exceeding three meters. The Ubonrat dam has accelerated discharges to about 45 million cubic meters of water per day as the level of water in its reservoir is over one meter above its full capacity level.

In the meantime, the College of Dramatic Arts in Kalasin province has gathered over 1,000 students to build sandbag floodwalls to protect the local Ban Don Yanang village as sections of the Chi and the Pao rivers in province have been rising. Officials in the eastern province of Chanthaburi have also launched a caravan of rescue workers, doctors and flat boats to help flood victims in central Ayutthaya province. (TNA)

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