Deputy prime ministers Somsak Thepsuthin and Anutin Charnvirakul have been instructed by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to travel to the northern province of Phrae, to oversee and coordinate relief operations for flood victims.

In his Tweet post today (Saturday), the prime minister said he has also instructed the governors of Sukhothai and Phitsanuloke provinces to prepare for possible flooding, as the swollen Yom River may burst its banks.

He also advised people living along waterways in the two provinces to move their valuables to high ground as a precaution, as the Royal Irrigation Department has been trying to divert the excess water into the Nan River to reduce the likelihood of flooding.

Pheu Thai MP of Phrae province, Woravat Uae-apinyakul, said today that several districts in the province have been flooded since yesterday morning and by late in the afternoon there was still no sign of a response from the provincial office of the Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, prompting him to make an urgent call to seek help from Deputy Interior Minister Kriang Kaltinan.

Woravat said he was told by the deputy minister that the provincial office cannot do anything until there is an announcement from the department on Monday, adding that he cannot afford to wait that along and he decided to call the interior permanent secretary directly.

An announcement was issued at about 7.30pm last evening and officials were dispatched to two sub-districts but managed to send only 160 survival kits to flood victims.

The swollen tributaries of the Yom River, as a result of heavy rain, have overflowed and inundated wide areas in several districts of Phrae province.

Irrigation officials have set up water pumps at the mouth of Klong Bueng Boraphet, Thailand’s largest fresh-water lake in Nakhon Sawan province, to draw water from the swollen Nan River into the lake to store for use during the dry season.

The water level in the lake has substantially reduced due to less that usual rainfall earlier this year.