Thai PM orders urgent assistance for flood victims

BANGKOK, September 5 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered that urgent assistance be provided for flood victims in all affected areas. New Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office ML Panadda Diskul told journalists on Friday that the prime minister expressed concerns over the current flooding in many areas, mostly in the Thai North and Northeast. ML Panadda said the prime minister has, therefore, instructed the Ministry of Interior’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to urgently assist flood victims in all the affected areas. Meanwhile, authorities in Sukhothai Province have closely monitored the updated situation, especially in areas where floods remain, although flooding in the lower northern province's central areas has been returning to normal, after high sandbag dikes and floodwalls have been erected and 11 large water pumps have been installed to pump out excess water back to the Yom River. The 12th Regional Irrigation Office in Chainat Province in the central region has, in the meantime, warned downstream provinces along the Chao Phraya River, namely Ayutthaya, to closely follow up the updated water situation as water in upstream areas have kept rising. People in Ayutthaya have, therefore, begun moving their belongings to high grounds as a precaution. (TNA)