PM visits flood-ravaged Thai Far South

NARATHIWAT, THAILAND, January 6 (TNA) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha is visiting flood-stricken Narathiwat Province in the Thai Far South to inspect the situation and to hand relief supplies to flood victims. Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith and Army Chief General Chalermchai Sittisart, the prime minister left for Narathiwat on Friday morning. Upon his arrival in the southernmost province, the prime minister chaired a security meeting at the Provincial Hall and a meeting on local economic and social development, in which concerned agencies and the private sector participated to follow up progress of the local development project, called the Economic Triangle of Security, Prosperity and Sustainability, aimed at improving the quality of life of local people. The prime minister is also scheduled to visit locals who are affected by the ongoing flooding in Ra-ngae District and to hand relief supplies to about 1,000 flood victims at the Ron Temple and the Tanyongmas Mosque before returning to Bangkok on Friday evening. Narathiwat has been heavily-submerged for over a week amid continual rainfalls, with two deaths reported and nearly 30,000 households in all 13 districts affected. Besides, over 70 roads have been flooded and mudslides have occurred at 18 spots, while authorities are assessing flood damages to provide further assistance to flooded areas. Meanwhile, the flooding situation in Nakhon Si Thammarat also remains critical, forcing the provincial airport to have announced a two-day closure due to its flooded runway, while all flights were cancelled on Friday. Nakhon Si Thammarat's 17 districts have been submerged and a 79-year-old woman has drowned in her house in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality. Cha-uat Hospital in the province has also been hard hit, as floodwater was about 80 centimeters deep, prompting officials to have evacuated patients to Maharat Hospital, which remains opened despite minor flood outside the hospital. Nakhon Si Thammarat Governor has convened an urgent meeting to seek an emergency budget of 100 million baht to help local flood victims, as business areas in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality have been totally submerged, while soldiers have been deployed to distribute food and drinking water to affected people, especially many of those who have been stranded at homes. In adjacent Phatthalung Province, several days of downpours have triggered floods in local business areas and government offices in the provincial seat, as well as Kuan Khanun and Pha Phayom Districts, where over 500 houses have been under two meters of floodwater. In the meantime, water pumps have been installed to drain water from flooded Phatthalung Hospital and there have been some people reportedly missing, swept away by the raging torrent of water. In Trang Province, the swollen Trang River has overflowed its banks,inundating low-lying areas along the river, while flood embankments in three sub-districts collapsed, causing flooding to over 3,000 households, prompting provincial authorities to have declared five districts as flood-hit disaster zones. (TNA)