Setback for lottery hopefuls as flood-hit temple closes its door
Due to rising floodwaters, a temple popular among lottery buyers has been temporarily closed from Sunday.
Situated in Udon Thani’s Ban Dung district, the Siriutto Temple (better known as Wat Pa Kham Chanot) has usually attracted huge crowds, particularly in the days preceding a lottery draw. With the next draw taking place on Tuesday, people queued up on Saturday for the chance to pray for lucky numbers inside the temple despite water logging on its grounds.
The fig tree to whom people usually pray for the winning lottery number was under 60-cm-deep water. The ground where the sacred Luang Pu Srisutto Naga is enshrined saw floodwaters 10 to 20cm deep.
Officials, therefore, decided to shut the temple’s doors temporarily until the situation returned to normal.
“Kham Chanod is home to so many bats. Their dung may mix in the floodwater and that can threaten the health of people who wade through it,” Pongsak Srichana, the kamnan of Ban Muang and a board member of the temple, said on Sunday.
He said visitors who had already flocked to the temple would be allowed to pray from outside only.