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Thailand: Flash flood prompts late night evacuation in Phrae

A flash flood in the middle of Monday night caused the emergency evacuation of at least 30 houses in Ban Pak Pan in Denchai district of the northern province of Phrae, said a military official leading the flood relief operation in the affected area.

Torrential rain from 11pm to 2am Monday night triggered a flash flood in the area, with water levels rising to 1 metre in places, said Col Chakkrares Siriphong, commander of the 12th Cavalry Battalion in Denchai. Col Chakkra led about 60 soldiers to help evacuate the affected villagers and move their belongings out of the flooded houses.

Many families were forced to flee their houses immediately, he said, with no time to grab personal belongings. Some had already found shelter in relatives’ homes by the time the soldiers arrived.

In Phrae’s Song district, a landslide has blocked a section of the main road in Ban Mae Raem in tambon Tao Pun, Thai media reported. A flash flood hit the area after continuous heavy rain.

In a 4am bulletin, the Meteorological Department said tropical storm Sonca, then centred in the South China Sea, was heading towards the shore of Vietnam at a speed of 65km per hour.

The tropical storm is predicted to lose strength, first becoming a tropical depression and then a low pressure area as it moves through neighbouring Laos and enters the North and the Northeast of Thailand, said the department.

Despite the storm’s weakening, torrential rain is forecast in about 70% of the country’s North, Northeast and East from now until Friday.

On Monday, the Royal Irrigation Department said it was preparing to head off flooding by increasing water flow through the country’s 11 dams - including the Chao Phraya Dam, the principal dam in the central plain.

Irrigation officers were being sent to warn communities in the flood-prone areas to prepare for the deluge, said Thongplew Kongchan, deputy director of the department.

In related news, more than 2,000 rai of paddy fields in the northeastern province of Kalasin have been damaged by floodwater run-off after a week of torrential rain, said Kriangkrai Kariwanna, chief of Muang district office today.

The province is bracing for severe flooding this week as the tropical storm takes its toll on Thailand, he said.

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