Floods reported in several Thai areas

PETCHABUN, September 6 (TNA) - Floods are expanding in many Thai areas, mostly in the Thai North, causing many villages to have been cut-off from the outside world. In Petchabun Province, deep floods are spreading in the Muang Lom Sak Municipality, submerging over 1,000 houses and some eight square kilometers of local farmlands and causing hardships to local people who have now commuted by boats; while downpours have continued. In nearby Pitsanulok Province, disaster prevention and mitigation authorities warned of possible flash floods with landslides from the Petchabun mountain range, which may affect local people in nine districts. In Lampang Province, where floodwater in seven inundated districts was receding, the Wang River still flows strongly and brings a number of garbage and branches accumulating at a bridge across the river, prompting local workers to use machines to clear the blockage to facilitate the flows of the river. In Tak Province, farmers in Umphang District are quickly collecting their crops, as flash floods are flowing into local canals which may overflow to their farmlands. In Nakhon Phanom Province in the Thai Northeast, water levels of the Mekong River and the Song Khram River have remained stable, but people living near the rivers have moved belongings to higher grounds and prepared boats and rafts as a precaution although they expect flooding this year should not be severe because the rivers have not reached their critical levels. In Bangkok, meanwhile, widespread scattered downpours overnight caused traffic snarls across the capital this morning, particularly during rush hours. The Meteorological Department issued a latest warning for people in all Thai regions to prepare for widespread scattered downpours, with heavy falls and possible floods, flash floods and mudslides in some areas over the next couple of days caused by an active monsoon trough. (TNA)