Environment

3 people killed in flash floods in northern Thailand

Tourists were evacuated from a hotel in the Thai city of Chiang Mai through knee-deep muddy water.

Three people were killed in flash floods in Thailand’s popular tourist destination Chiang Mai, health officials said Sunday, as tourists were evacuated from hotels in knee-deep mud and shops in the city center closed.

Two elephants also drowned in rapidly rising floodwaters north of the city, an elephant sanctuary said on Sunday.

In central Chiang Mai, people waded through brown floodwaters at the Night Bazaar, and water poured into the now-closed central train station.

Local media reported that thousands of bedridden elderly and children were in need of food and shelter after the Ping River reached historic high levels on Saturday night.

Officials said water levels had receded slightly by Sunday.

Public health official Salidet Charoenchai said three people had died, including a 44-year-old man who was electrocuted and a 33-year-old woman who died in a “landslide.”

More than a dozen medical centers have been closed due to high waters and more than 80 people have been evacuated to evacuation centers, he added.

Local television stations showed monks carrying the coffin through floodwaters to the crematorium.

In Mae Taan district, more than 100 elephants at Chiang Mai province’s Elephant Nature Park have been moved to higher ground to escape rapidly rising floodwaters, an official named Dada told AFP.

A convenience store flooded in Thailand's tourist destination Chiang Mai

A convenience store flooded in Chiang Mai, a tourist destination in Thailand.

However, the two elephants, named by local media as 16-year-old Fasai and visually impaired 40-year-old Prusson, were found dead on Saturday.

“When I saw the elephant floating in the water, my worst nightmare came true,” Senduan Chairat, director of the Elephant Nature Park in northern Thailand, told local media.

“I will never let something like this happen again. I will never let them escape floods like this again,” she said, vowing to move them to higher ground in preparation for next year’s monsoon.

Recent heavy rains have caused water levels in the Ping River to reach “critical” levels, causing widespread flooding in parts of northern Thailand, according to the district office.

Provinces in northern Thailand have been hit by massive flooding since Typhoon Yagi hit the region in early September, with some districts reporting the worst flooding in 80 years.

Thailand receives monsoon rains every year, but human-induced climate change is making weather patterns more intense and more prone to devastating floods.

Twenty of Thailand’s 76 provinces are currently affected by flooding, the Ministry of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation announced on Sunday.

© 2024 AFP

Citation: 3 people killed in flash floods in northern Thailand (October 6, 2024) Retrieved October 6, 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-10-northern-thailand.html

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