Floods force evacuations in Surat Thani
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Overflow of Tapi River forces families in risky areas to move; flood-prevention work in Phitsanulok '70% finished'
Floods in the southern province of Surat Thani have affected some 2,000 people and 500 households, with residents in high-risk areas being evacuated.
The Tapi River in Phrasaeng district was overflowing its banks in many areas due to heavy rain. Floodwater levels on some roads in the district were 30-50 centimetres high, and reached 1 metre at points.
Around 60 out of 200 flood-affected families who live in risky areas in the district have been evacuated to stay at a temple and school after roads to villages were cut off by 60- to 80-centimetre-high floods.
Main roads in other districts of Surat Thani had also been inundated. Local authorities have warned people living in risky areas of possible flash floods and forest run-off and to keep checking weather forecasts.
Elsewhere in the South, floods in Trang’s Wang Wiset district forced two schools to postpone reopening for the new semester for 30 days. Palm and rubber plantations along the overflowing Trang River had also been damaged.
A soil embankment of a reservoir broke and water damaged some palm and fruit plantations in Ranong’s La-un district, while many residents in areas severely hit by floods in Kapoe district are waiting for assistance.
Ranong Provincial Administrative Organisation has set up a centre that will help mitigate storm, flood and landslide effects for local people after their assets and agricultural areas in many districts were damaged by such disasters. Officers at the centre will stand by round the clock to deliver immediate assistance.
Local authorities in Phuket said they were not worried much about floods but they would have to monitor possible landslides in slope areas.
Meanwhile, integrated projects to stop flooding in the rainy season in the northern province of Phitsanulok are 70-per-cent complete, and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to visit next week to follow up on the progress of these.
Prime Minister’s Office Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan yesterday visited Phitsanulok to check on progress of projects in the province – which was badly flooded last year – prior to Yingluck’s visit.
According to Governor Chairote Meedaeng, the projects were 70-per-cent complete. They include river and canal dredging and water-gate repairing.
Yingluck said the government’s Single Command was collecting forecasts about the water situation from different agencies to check the overall flood situation before giving any instructions on water management.
She said three temporary water gates that would help release water in Nonthaburi would be finished by the end of July.
Urgent moves to be implemented were lowering dam levels, raising earth embankments, repairing water gates and installing pumps.
In related news, about 500 people in Bang Bua Thong in Nonthaburi staged a protest against alleged unfairness in flood-compensation payments.
Meanwhile, Governor Khajornsak Singtokul yesterday met hundreds of locals in Pathum Thani’s Lat Lum Kaeo and Sam Khok districts who were not satisfied with compensation payments. He explained the criteria of the damage survey to them and told them he would have relevant agencies help them.
