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Report from The Nation dated Wednesday 21 December 2005 :-

FLOOD CRISIS: More downpours forecast for South

Residents throughout flood-ravaged region warned to brace for more heavy rain over the next three days. Residents in the South - already reeling from the worst flooding in decades - are bracing for more heavy rain. Downpours are predicted for today, tomorrow and Friday.

The weather department warned yesterday that more heavy rain was likely everywhere south of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Many of the major centres - Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Narathiwat, Phatthalung, Trang, Yala and Satun - are already underwater. Floodwaters have not yet subsided and the situation looks set to get worse. The damage bill already amounted to more than Bt114million.

Flat-bottomed boats have been used to deliver relief items and food to thousands stranded by weeks of rain.

“We are concerned about more heavy rain,” government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said.

Hat Yai Mayor Prai Pattano said authorities had just managed to drain floodwater from the town by removing sections of railway track that had acted as a dam, blocking the run-off of waters.

Main roads in the town - the economic hub in the South - were dry and passable, he said late last night.

“But now we have to prepare ourselves for more downpours.”

The situation in Narathiwat also improved yesterday, yet the latest forecast has dampened hopes that things will soon return to normal.

In Yala, landslides yesterday damaged 18 houses in Bannang Sata district and several areas remained underwater.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat, the floodwater reached up to 1.5 metres in the worst-hit spots.

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department chief Anucha Mokhawes said relevant officials had been instructed to do all they can to disperse floodwaters.

He said Pattani had been hit hardest. Flooding has forced the closure of at least 142 schools in the province and more than 300 in Songkhla.

In Songkhla’s Ranot district, shrimp-farm owner Kajpundit Rarmmark said more than 10,000 rai of shrimp farms were under water.

“In the heavily-hit areas, floodwater are about two metres deep,” he said.

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Pinij Charusombat expressed concern the floods might allow the spread of conjunctivitis, polio and diarrhoea.

“We have now stocked necessary medicines to treat such diseases,” he said.

The ministry was working closely with local administrative bodies to ensure hygienic standards in the region and

contain any outbreaks of contagious diseases. Pinij said just two hospitals had been closed, despite the floods damaging several medical clinics.

Dr Petchdao Tohmeena, director of the mental-health office overseeing the three southernmost provinces, said the floods had created more stress for residents previously wracked by civil unrest.

“They are understandably more stressed because they are now facing a natural disaster as well as ongoing violence,” she said.

Petchdao said her office could not deliver any help to people affected, because flooding prevented officials from travelling in the area.

“We hope we’ll be able to do something for them next week,” she said.

In the meantime, Dr Petchdao called on those affected to be patient and tolerant.

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Mail piles

Letters and parcels were piling up at Hat Yai post office in Songkhla yesterday as flooding kept postal workers from delivering the mail.

“We have dispatched more than 120 postmen to deliver letters and parcels, but we can only reach lightly flooded areas,” said Jamnong Khongchoo, the post office’s chief.

He estimated about 30,000 letters and parcels had piled up at his office.

Flooding, however, had not prevented a queue from forming outside the local branch of Bangkok Insurance, a company official said. The insurer would swiftly investigate all compensation claims, he added. Meanwhile, Hat Yai’s police yesterday rounded up five suspects for a robbery at a wholesale food shop on Monday.

The suspects, aged 16 to 39, told police they were driven to steal by hunger. Police charged them with theft and trespassing.