Flash flood kills 3 in Uttaradit
The Nation 2011-09-10
A family of three was killed and nine other people were missing after a flash flood surged into three villages in Uttaradit province early Thursday morning.
More than 300 residents of Nam Pat district's Tambon Nam Phai were left homeless and in need of rescue as the roads to their homes were cut off by the floodwaters. The provincial relief agency was instructed by the government to construct a pontoon bridge within two days after an existing bridge collapsed.
Agency chief Surachai Thatkawin said the flash flood descended on the villages from nearby mountainous areas at around 2 am Thursday morning, sweeping away farming equipment and cattle, and felling electricity poles, causing blackouts. Initial damage estimates were not immediately available, he said.
In Sing Buri in the Central region, meanwhile, a major hospital was surrounded by onemetredeep floodwaters held back by an embankment wall, forcing the hospital to resort to tractors to transport patients. Despite the flooding, In Buri district hospital managed to dispatch mobile medical teams to help floodaffected residents.
Of the many floodaffected residents of Phitsanulok's Bang Rakam district, 78 are considered suicidal and have been put under close watch, said local public health chief Chinnawat Chomprasert.
In Nakhon Sawan, a soldier drowned while performing floodrelief duties with an Army engineers unit in a section of the Chao Phraya River in Mueang district. SgtMajor Wasant Thannithi was tasked with salvaging a capsized sandtransport barge.
An official flooddamage report yesterday said 14 provinces were now inundated, with Nakhon Sawan and Angthong the latest to be hit, while the death toll remained at 72. That figure excludes the three deaths and missing residents in Uttaradit.
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