Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai was assigned to take care of operations in Sukhothai and Uttaradit and Suwat Liptapanlop in Phrae and Nan, while Labour Minister Somsak Thepsuthin will assist Surakiart on operations in Sukhothai, said Sermsak, who will also assist Surakiart.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra earlier called an urgent meeting of Cabinet members and officials serving with key ministries, including Supreme Commander General Ruengroj Mahasaranont.

Thaksin quoted a speech made by Their Majesties the King and Queen expressing their concern about the flooding to boost the morale of everyone at the meeting.

Logs have been found in two small dams in Soong Men and Den Chai districts in Phrae. They will be retrieved from the water to prevent any damage to the dam walls. Phrae MP Thossaporn Serirak said an investigation would follow to determine whether the logs had been illegally felled.

The chief of the provincial irrigation office dismissed a report that Mae Ram Dam, one of the two dams, was about to collapse. He said an earlier inspection found there were small cracks in the dam's wall before ruling out the chance of it collapsing. As a result, no evacuations of people living near the dam have been ordered.

In Sukhothai, at around midnight, floodwater in Thung Saliam district inundated a section of Phahol Yothin Road. Two villages in Phrae's Long district also faced fresh flash-floods, with a total of 3,000 rai of farmland inundated.

Further flooding also affected the Muang district of Sukhothai province yesterday morning, washing away four houses and swelling Yom River, and later inundating low-lying areas, where floodwater levels had just receded.