Volunteers and soldiers have joined residents of Hat Yai in cleaning up their houses and shops, but the tiring efforts have been hampered by a power blackout and the lack of tap water.
Even though electricity was restored yesterday, it is only available in about 15% of Hat Yai town. The commercial area and the town centre, where the Hat Yai Hospital, the Tanyong market and the fresh market remains without power.
A limited tap water supply resumed yesterday, but only to some areas.
In addition to the cleanup efforts, the volunteers and soldiers have been tasked with removing hundreds of cars, which were parked on bridges by their owners to keep them dry, so the affected bridges can be reopened to traffic.
Even parked on bridges, many of the cars did not escape the flooding and cannot be started.
Shopkeepers and vendors were seen putting their flood-damaged goods, such as clothes retrieved from their stores, on sale at bargain prices for shoppers looking for low priced replacements for possessions they abandoned in their flooded houses.
Meanwhile, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) has mobilised officials in a cleanup campaign, to dispose of garbage and to treat the polluted but receding floodwater.
A spacious piece of land has been set aside for garbage separation. Surin Worakijthamrong, the director-general of the PCD, said that he has recommended that municipalities in Songkhla make similar temporary dump sites available near each community.
