Flooding across southern Thailand spills into Malaysia by Steph Ball
Heavy rains have brought severe flooding across Narathiwat in Thailand’s south, affecting thousands of villagers and prompting eight of its 13 districts to be declared disaster zones. As river levels continued to swell on Monday, one official described the flooding as the most severe to hit the region in a decade.
The water level across three main rivers in the province surged, not least the Kolok River which also marks the boundary between Thailand and Malaysia. The river exceeded the danger level of 9 metres (29 feet), rising to 10.51 metres (34.5 feet). The provinces infrastructure was severely damaged as hundreds of roads became flooded and bridges were washed away. Electricity and water supplies were also cut off.
Meanwhile floods in northeastern Malaysia worsened on Monday as the river finally burst its bank. Monsoonal rains have already been taking their toll on the country over the last few weeks, with Johor the worst affected. However, Monday saw a fresh flood of evacuees across Kelantan, while in Pahang more than 20,000 residents have already been evacuated to relief centres.
On Sunday meteorological officials issued a red warning, the highest alert, for Pahang state with more heavy rain forecast for the week ahead. Conditions are likely to worsen with the monsoon season only half way through. The monsoon rains normally run in this region from November to February.
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