Narathiwat suffers oil shortage, deep South hit by Internet blackout

Although the floodwaters in Narathiwat have started subsiding, the province is facing a petrol shortage due to flooding in Songkhla, which has inhibited oil supplies to the southern border province.

Worse still, Narathiwat, along with two other southern border provinces, Yala and Pattani, were hit by an Internet blackout after an Internet junction device between Songkhla and Pattani, operated by National Telecom (NT), broke down.

Officials said NT has deployed workers to restore the Internet connection to the three southern border provinces as soon as possible.
The oil shortage in Narathiwat was confirmed by Chaiya Siyacheep, the Chief Energy Officer for Narathiwat. The Narathiwat Energy Office deployed officials to check 42 petrol stations in the province, finding that most had already run out of petrol. Some stations only had Gasohol 95 petrol available, priced at 49.59 baht per litre.

Chaiya explained that flooded roads in Songkhla were preventing oil tankers from resupplying Narathiwat. He stated that the situation would return to normal once the floodwaters subside.

On Thursday, the rainfall in Narathiwat began to decrease. Unlike last week, when the province experienced continuous heavy rains, the rainfall on Thursday came in intervals.

Officials said that the floodwaters, which had affected around 281,000 people in 391 villages and 46 communities across 67 tambon in 13 districts, began to recede as rainfall decreased. Some areas were almost back to normal.

However, officials noted that the Kolok River remained swollen with rainwater. The river, which originates from Tambon Buketah in Waeng district, still had water levels 70 centimetres above its banks due to the rainwater.

With the river still swollen, Saleeha Mayusoh, Mayor of Muang Sungai Kolok Municipality, ordered her officials to pump out floodwaters from seven communities in downtown Sungai Kolok.

She said the seven communities had been equipped with nine water pumps supplied by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. These pumps would operate around the clock to remove water that had seeped through leaks in flood walls and drainage pipes.