AFP, BANGKOK
More than 30,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to severe flooding in southern Thailand, where the death toll climbed to 29, officials said yesterday.
Days more heavy rain are forecast in the area, which has already been battered by torrential floodwaters, with more than 155,000 households affected, the Thai government’s public relations department said.
Five southern provinces have been hit — Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung — forcing more than 33,000 people to leave their homes, a spokesperson for the Thai Ministry of Public Health said in a statement.
Rescue workers navigate a flooded road in a boat in Thailand’s Narathiwat Province on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
The death toll stood at 29, up from 25 reported on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said that mental health teams have been deployed to provide support and care for those affected.
A woman from Narathiwat’s Tak Bai District told state broadcaster Thai PBS that she had not returned home for three days, instead staying in a temporary shelter at a local temple after her house was inundated by floodwaters.
The Thai Meteorological Department yesterday said that a low-pressure system moving from the South China Sea across Malaysia and the Andaman Sea was expected to bring heavy rainfall and further flooding to southern Thailand.
The Thai Department of Mineral Resources warned of potential landslides and flash floods until today.
Disaster response teams were working to drain floodwater and evacuate people to dry areas, the country’s disaster agency said on Facebook.
The government has deployed rescue teams to assist affected residents and designated 50 million baht (US$1.5 million) in flood relief for each province.
The Thai Cabinet on Tuesday approved a 9,000 baht payment per family to support those affected.
The floods have also affected Malaysia, where tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
