Flooding in southern provinces may last into the new year before the situation improves, according to Dr. Royboon Rassameethes, director of the Hydro-Informatics Institute.
He told Thai PBS that, in the past few days, parts of Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla provinces have been lashed by heavy rain, measured between 400 and 500mm a day.
Furthermore, the provinces are expecting more rain on December 1st and 2nd, followed by high tides on December 4th, 5th and 6th and again on December 15th, 16th and 17th.
He said that there is a high risk that the massive flooding of 2010 could be repeated.
He suggested that people living in areas badly affected by flooding should be moved to evacuation centres given the likelihood of prolonged flooding.
The Comptroller General’s Department has increased the flood relief emergency fund for six southern provinces, from 50 to 70 million baht each.
Meanwhile, the Pattani provincial hospital only has enough water for one day and the provincial waterworks authority has stopped supplying tap water in the provincial town after, vital machinery used in the production of potable water broke down due to the flooding, Governor Fatima Sadeeyamu said today.
To address the tap water stoppage, she said that the hospital has arranged for four 500m3 tankers to supply water to the hospital, which needs at least 500m3 per day.
Access to the hospital is also being hampered by the flooding, making it extremely difficult for people to travel to the hospital, except by truck, said the governor, adding that several patients are having to rely on drug stores.
Commercial districts, such as Makrood Road, where many stores and government office buildings are located, the floodwater level remains high today.
Shop-owners have admitted that they had under-estimated the severity of the flooding, saying that, although they had moved their goods to higher ground, it was not high enough and many items were spoiled.
Three people have drowned and one was electrocuted in flooding in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat, according to Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin.
Seven hospitals, three in Songkhla and four in Pattani, have been closed due to heavy flooding.
