Several Thai areas remain at risk of floods

BANGKOK, July 30 (TNA) - People in several Thai provinces, mostly in the North and Northeast, have kept a close watch on the updated water situation and related problems, namely floods and landslides, as heavy downpours have continued. In Chiang Rai province in the Thai North, for instance, several areas remained under deep floodwater on Tuesday although local officials were draining out water round-the-clock in an attempt to relieve people’s hardships. The amount of rainfalls in Chiang Rai during the past 12 hours was as high as 160 millimetres in the provincial seat and locals were warned of a possible water runoff and water overflowing river banks. In nearby Chiang Mai Province, villagers living in Fang district faced heavy rain relentlessly, while local officials and villagers were taking turns to closely watching out updated water levels 24 hours and to prepare for locals' evacuation to higher grounds in case of any emergency. In adjacent Nan province, some 500 houses in Tha Wang Pha district plus a large area of farmlands were also under deep floodwater, while water levels of the Nan River have kept rising gradually. In the northwestern Tak province, the flooding in Mae Sot district, bordering Myanmar, was spreading, damaging local farmlands, while water levels of the Moei River had overflowed and inundated houses along its banks, disrupting cross-border activities and prompting people to have moved their valuable assets to higher ground. In the western Kanchanaburi province, also bordering Myanmar, heavy rain continued, but it could not deter local people and tourists from travelling and taking pictures of Saphan Mon, Thailand’s longest wooden bridge, connecting Sangkhla Buri district with the historical Three Pagoda Pass, which collapsed in the mid section for about 30 metres on July 29 as it could not withstand the pressure of strong currents. The Meteorological Department, meanwhile, forecast that low pressure which now covers the Thai North and the Upper Northeast, should continue to cause heavy downpours in the two regions in the coming days. (TNA)