Floods kill 20 people in Thailand

Some of the worst flooding in southern Thailand in 40 years has left 20 dead, officials said today.

Rising flood waters have devastated several provinces along the border with Malaysia and the death toll is expected to rise, said Suvit Kaneelkul, chief of the southern Disaster Prevention and Rescue Centre.

The floods have sparked landslides and halted trains in some areas.

In the past three days, 14 people were killed and two are missing in the seven provinces on the border with Malaysia, while 6 people were killed in the province of Nakhon Srithammarat, Suvit said.

The state Thai News Agency also reported that flash floods in thirteen districts in Narathiwat province inundated the homes of 4,000 families along the Sungai Kolok River. The waters – rising as high as five feet in some places - caused landslides, power cuts and the suspension of train service in some areas, the agency said.

The floods, triggered by heavy rains over the past two weeks, have hit more than a million people and prompted the government to declare seven southern provinces disaster zones.

The floods also damaged 794 roads and destroyed 1,000 houses, 121 bridges and 83 temples and mosques, he said. About 2.47 million acres of rice fields as well as rubber and fruit plantations are under the water, Suvit said. The waters have also killed 2,000 head of cattle and destroyed 200 fish ponds, he said.

“The water keeps rising in the business area of Haadyai and in some areas it’s up to a metre deep,” said Suvit, referring to a popular tourist town in the south.

“The initial estimate cost of the damage from the floods is about 1 billion baht (€20.3m).”