Cold snap hits Thai North

BANGKOK, December 20 (TNA) - A severe cold spell is hitting the Thai North, particularly those in the northern Chiang Mai and Uttaradit provinces, where nearly 19,900 households in 169 villages have been declared cold-stricken disaster areas and people with lack of winter cloths have been warned by the Ministry of Interior’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to keep themselves warm. The department's director-general Chatchai Promlert said on Thursday although a powerful high pressure mass from China, now covering the northern Thai region with a drop in temperatures, has been weakening, a cold snap is striking several areas in the country's northern, northeastern, central and eastern regions, especially the Upper North, with 19,898 households in 169 villages of five districts in Chiang Mai and Uttaradit provinces having been declared cold-stricken disaster zones. Meanwhile, the easterly wind covering the Gulf of Thailand and the South has been gaining strength, with more downpours expected over the next couple of days in southern Thai areas, including Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat; while waves along the lower part of the Gulf of Thailand, from Surat Thani province downward, remain rather high and local fishermen are, thus, warned to take extra precaution and small trawlers to stay ashore from December 20-25. The Meteorological Department announced, on the other hand, that drought is now hitting 22 provinces, mostly in the Thai Northeast, where 18,456 villages in 240 districts have been declared drought-hit disaster areas, due to the lack of rain. (TNA)