Thailand has declared its southern Songkhla province a disaster zone, after heavy rainfall left thousands stranded and at least 33 people dead, according to Thai officials.
Floodwaters were running as high as 2 metres (6.6 feet) in some areas, days after the province’s Hat Yai district received 335mm (13 inches) of rain on Friday, its highest in a single day for three centuries.
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“Authorities say 33 people have died across seven provinces, with causes including flash floods, electrocution and drowning,” Thai government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told reporters.
About 150,000 people were stranded by rising floodwaters in Hat Yai, Seree Supratid, the director of the Climate Change and Disaster Centre at Rangsit University and vice president of the National Disaster Warning Council Foundation, wrote in a Facebook update on Wednesday.
The Bangkok Post reported on Tuesday that Thailand’s cabinet had declared Songkhla a disaster zone to free up funds for a rapid response to the ongoing disaster, as heavy rains continued to inundate much of the region.
Heavy rains have affected nine southern provinces of Thailand, impacting about 2.1 million people, with 13,000 moving to shelters, while many others have also been cut off and unable to receive help, the Reuters news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s military said it was sending reinforcements to help with disaster efforts on Tuesday, including a C-130 cargo plane with medicine, food and water supplies, 14 rubber boats and the aircraft carrier Chakri Naruebet carrying two helicopters, doctors and field kitchens that can supply 3,000 meals a day.
The military will assist emergency responders who said they have been overwhelmed by calls for help.
“Calls have been coming in non-stop in the last three days, in the thousands, asking to be evacuated and others for food,” said a member of a volunteer group on the Facebook page of Hat Yai’s Matchima rescue group.
Posts from stranded people desperate for help ran into the thousands on the Facebook page, including from Pingojung Ping, who said she was one of six trapped, two of them elderly. “Water is on the second floor now,” she wrote, “Pray. Please help.”
“We are five people and a small child without rice and water,” another Facebook user, The Hong Tep, wrote. “Phone reception has been cut – water is rising fast.”
Hundreds of factories have also flooded, taking at least 17 power plants offline in the region, which is among the world’s largest producers and exporters of rubber, Industry Minister Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said.
‘Difficult and challenging time’
In neighbouring Malaysia, more than 27,000 people have been moved from flooded areas to dozens of evacuation centres set up mainly in northern border areas, according to rescue officials.
In the state of Perlis, rescue teams waded through knee-deep water to enter homes, while rescue boats ferried the elderly and children to safety, images from its fire department showed.
A team of rescuers sent to the worst-hit state of Kelantan, bordering Thailand, could fan out to other states if needed, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Facebook, urging people to comply with orders to evacuate.
“In this difficult and challenging time, I pray that all flood victims are granted strength, resilience, and protected from any harm,” he said.