Floods halt Thai-Cambodian border trade

BANGKOK, October 8 (TNA) - Flooding situation in eastern Thai provinces remained critical today with several highways cutoff from the outside world while cross-border trade with Cambodia halted, causing losses of several hundreds of millions of baht for traders. Heavy downpours along with water runoff from Sa Kaeo province have exacerbated flooding situation in Prachin Buri’s Kabin Buri district as two highways are now under deep floodwaters, making them impassable for small vehicles, officials said. A similar situation is seen in Chanthaburi province bordering Cambodia. Cross-border trade in this province has stopped for fourth consecutive days with Thai traders having already suffered losses of more than 150 million baht, officials said. Shortage of goods is seen on the Cambodian side with prices of some good items having soared up by almost double. Flooding situation in the resort province of Rayong is also serious after three districts are inundated, damaging several thousands of rai of farmland. People living near two reservoirs have been told to move their valuable items to higher ground, while irrigation authorities are putting efforts to drain floodwaters. (End)