• 
• 

Published on October 26, 2007

Chumphon public relations official Suthima Sanyawong said His Majesty had learned about the severe flooding and was concerned about his subjects' well-being. He instructed Royal Household Bureau officials to board a helicopter to survey the damage.

Lt-Colonel Kamol Prachaupmor, deputy secretary-general of the Ratchaprachanukroh Foundation under the Royal Patronage, will also provide relief bags at Tambon Na Pho in Sawi district today at 2pm, she said.

The Chumphon flood levels remain at 50 centimetres to one metre.

The Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office reported that 15,319 households in Muang, Lamae, Phato, Lang Suan and Tha Sae districts were hit, while officials were still assessing Sawi, Pathiu and Thung Tako districts. Overall flood damage was estimated to be at least Bt100 million.

The flood death toll in Chumphon is now two. Napassakorn Laphrom, 12, drowned in Muang district and 36-year-old Suwan Petchthong drowned in Lang Suan district while inspecting his fish pond.

Chumphon Governor Manit Wattanasen provided relief bags for flood victims and ordered officials to help them as well as the families of the deceased. As rain continued, he urged officials to watch 124 landslide and flood-prone villages around the clock.

Although the rain stopped yesterday morning in Surat Thani, the flood situation there remained worrisome, including the tourist island of Koh Samui, according to Governor Winai Buapradit.

He said Phrasaeng, Chaiya, Tha Chana, Don Sak, Tha Chang, and Koh Samui districts were affected by flooding, but it had eased except in Phrasaeng and Koh Samui, where the situation continued to be of concern due to deep and polluted floodwater.

Five more water pumps were sent to Koh Samui after installing an initial three pumps, the governor said.

Floods occur every year and new town planning is needed to solve the problem in the long term, he said. Flooding is not affecting tourism because it is the monsoon season when the number of tourists is not usually very high.

Winai later yesterday boarded a helicopter to inspect the flood damage in Koh Samui and Tha Chana.

Koh Samui's Tourism Promotion Association chairman Senee Phuwasetthavorn said the repeated floods on the island were caused by the construction of houses, bungalows and hotels, which obstructed natural waterways.

Road infrastructure does not include proper drainage and when heavy rains carry sand from the hillsides and block drainage pipes, roads around the island become flooded, he said.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry announced that since October 8 until yesterday, health officials had treated around 55,000 flood victims, most of whom were suffering athlete's foot, rashes and flu.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin warned riverside residents of possible flooding as the Chao Phya River was due to peak at 1.92 metres yesterday afternoon due to the high tide.

He said the city had also asked the Royal Irrigation Department to decrease the rate of water released from the North to 2,665 cubic metres per second to support the massive inflows of seawater expected from tomorrow until next Wednesday.

The governor has also set up working committees chaired by the deputy governor and deputy permanent secretary respectively, to tackle problems in submerged areas and requested the Navy to cooperate with the city in assisting flood victims.

Bangkok will also release water from the Chao Phya River to the city's canals and designated flood-absorbing areas, he added.

The Nation

CHUMPHON