BANGKOK: The death toll from floods across southern Thailand has risen to 145, with more than 100 people killed in hard-hit Songkhla province alone, the government said on Friday (Nov 28).
Devastating flooding has overwhelmed southern Thailand this week, particularly in Hat Yai district, near the border with Malaysia.
The “total deaths across the southern provinces is 145”, with Songkhla accounting for 110, government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told a press conference, updating earlier figures.
Large areas were submerged, pushing residents to seek shelter on rooftops and a local hospital announcing its morgue was full.
Paradorn Prissananantakul, the director of the flood relief operations centre, said: “We will now move into the rehabilitation phase and work to restore cities to normal as quickly as possible.”
More than 14,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas, the government said.
Large parts of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have been stricken by cyclone-fuelled torrential rain for a week, with a rare tropical storm forming in the Malacca Strait.
Another 46 people were killed by a cyclone in the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka, authorities said.
In the southern city of Hat Yai, the hardest hit part of Thailand, the rain had finally stopped on Friday, but residents were still ankle-deep in flood waters, and many remained without electricity as they assessed the damage done to their property over the last week.
One said he had “lost everything”.
Some residents said they were spared the worst of the floods but were still suffering from the effects.
“It affects everything for us, in every way,” said 52-year old Somporn Petchtae.
“My place wasn’t flooded, but I was stuck like I was on an island because I couldn’t go anywhere.”
Source: CNA
