Thailand's southern floods ease

BANGKOK, January 6 (TNA) - Workers are hurriedly restoring roads at landslide locations in Thailand's flood-hit southern region, where a new round of inundations since early 2012 has been relieving and the region has been entering its cleanup and rehabilitation stage. Flooded areas in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality, for instance, have shrunk by over 80 per cent, leaving only low-lying communities remaining under shallow floodwater. In Baan Khao Wang Village of Ron Phibul District, workers have been quickly restoring traffic lanes covered with earth in a recent landslide which isolated over 1,000 locals. Provincial authorities initially estimated that flood damages in Nakhon Si Thammarat, where there have been over 300,000 flood victims, should reach about 120 million baht. In Chaiya District of Surat Thani Province, more than 400 households have been isolated for three days, as landslides have blocked their road access on a combined distance of about five kilometers and concerned officials are operating machines to reopen the main road access to Baan Khao Lak Village, with the task expected to be complete by on Friday. (TNA)