Train services to Thai North resume

THAILAND, June 9 (TNA) - Train services to the North have been resumed, after they were temporarily suspended on Friday due to damaged rail tracks caused by floods; while hundreds of families in the Thai South have moved to higher grounds, after their houses were heavily inundated following heavy downpours over the past few days. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) announced Saturday that the northern train services, which were suspended after a section of rail tracks in Phrae province was damaged due to heavy rain washing away the soil under the tracks, have been already resumed since late Friday night after workers completed repairing the tracks. Meanwhile, heavy downpours have continued ravaging several southern Thai provinces. Friday night's forest run-offs in Surat Thani province, for instance, have affected more than 500 households in Phrasaeng district, with floodwater measured up to three metres in some areas and forcing local villagers to evacuate to safer areas while many more stranded in their neighbourhoods. Provincial officials have dispatched flat-bottomed boats to assist the stranded villagers. But the assistance faced problems due to strong currents and there was a blackout for more than six hours in the affected areas. In nearby Trang province, the situation in Muang district has remained critical due to rising floodwater and vehicles were unable to pass through, as roads were damaged. In Wang Wiset district, more than 500 rai of rubber and palm oil plantations have already been under floodwater. Villagers have to place sandbags along a canal to prevent overflows from the canal to inundate their farmlands. (TNA)