FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Ayutthaya still struggling after four months of flooding

Ayutthaya still struggling after four months of flooding

About 500 families in Tambon Tha Din Daeng of Ayutthaya’s Phak Hai district, who have endured floods for more than four months, are in need of aid, especially portable toilets, said Natthaporn Mongkolroy, president of the tambon administrative organisation.

Floodwaters from the overflowing Noi River were stable on Thursday because the Royal Irrigation Department had decreased discharges into the Noi River by 50 cubic metres per second, but residents in eight affected villages were still having difficulties and using boats.
Many families had to evacuate to a temporary shelter at Wat Tha Din Daeng, where the tambon office provided food.
Suchat Nuanchawee, 60, said he had been unable to find odd jobs to support himself for the past four months, while floodwaters had reached the second floor of his house.
“Only 30 centimetres more and it would be at the same level as the devastating flood in 2011,” he said, urging aid, particularly food, drinking water and portable toilets.
Boonsom Khamsa-ard, 61, said the deep flooding had prevented her and fellow villagers from working and forced them to use inadequate toilet facilities. Her husband had also been bitten by a snake that had invaded their home.
She also asked for government aid, especially food.
Fisherman Suwan Phromrat, 68, said he had been unable to fish in the torrential floodwaters and was in need of food, drinking water and basic commodities.
Ayutthaya Governor Sujin Chaichumsak said the Central province’s nine districts were flooded, with Phak Hai, Sena, Bang Ban, Bang Sai, Bang Pahan and Muang Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya submerged for more than four months, affecting 55,851 households. Ten people have been killed in the province as a result of the flooding.
Sujin added that the province’s seven water-retention fields covering 553,339 rai (88,534 hectares) held 1.23 billion cubic metres of water, or 118.58 per cent of combined manageable capacity.
Officials were working hard to provide aid to affected people and survey the damage for remedial measures so people’s lives could return to normal as soon as possible, he said.

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