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The Nation on Sunday
UTTRARADIT:-- About 100 houses were hit by forest runoff in Uttaradit's Nam Pat district yesterday, while some 300 trawlers based in Ranong suspended fishing due to high waves and heavy downpours.
After five hours of rain early yesterday morning, the runoff from Huai Soi Mountain swept through residences and caused 50-centimetre-deep floods, which lasted around an hour, said Surachai Thatchakawin from the Uttaradit Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office.
Local residents had to rush to move their belongings to higher floors, but some possessions - mostly furniture and electrical appliances that were difficult to move - were damaged. Moreover, parts of the Queen Sirikit Dam-Nam Pat Road were destroyed, Surachai said.
Uttaradit Governor Yothin Samutkhiri said authorities had warned people in nine high-risk districts of the threat of heavy downpours, possible runoff and flash-flooding up to today.
The Northern Meteorological Centre yesterday issued a warning of heavy rains in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Phrae, Uttaradit, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and Phetchabun from yesterday to tomorrow.
It urged residents living in areas near mountains to keep an eye out for possible flash floods and forest runoff.
Samnieng Maneerat, acting chief of the Ranong Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, said it would rain heavily in the province from Friday till next Wednesday, due to the influence of a monsoon. The office issued a warning urging locals in areas at risk of landslides and flash floods to prepare for evacuation.
Some 84 villages in 27 tambon of five districts - Muang, Kapoe, Suk Samran, La-un and Kra Buri - were considered at risk of flooding, storms and landslides, she said.
Samnieng added that local fishermen were told to stop going out to sea during this period.
In Krabi's Muang district, tourist ferries halted services due to heavy downpours and strong wind over the past two days, which caused two- to three-metre-high waves. No tourists were seen strolling on the beaches.
Motorists have been advised to drive carefully when it rains. An accident occurred yesterday in Chanthaburi due to heavy rain, killing four people and injuring two. Reports said the driver lost control of the car on a slippery curved road before it crashed into a tree
-- The Nation 2012-05-27
