Mujigae storm causes floods in many Thai areas

THAILAND, October 5 (TNA) - Mujigae storm has caused heavy downpours and flooding in many Thai areas, especially those in the North and the Northeast, while the Meteorological Department has warned people to keep following up updates of weather reports in the coming days. Continual downpours over the past couple of days in the Thai North have caused runoffs from the Mae Wong Mountain Range in Nakhon Sawan Province to flood over 3,000 rais of farmlands (2.5 rais = 1 acre) and dozens of local households in Baan Rai and Bo Thum areas of Lad Yao District, while land transport between villages has been disrupted by a damaged road and local authorities cautioned that the situation would be worsen if continual downpours continued for another couple of days. Many areas in Pichit Province, also in the Lower Thai North, have also been flooded from continual downpours, prompting farmers in Muang District to plough and prepare their farmlands for off-season rice crops although they were earlier urged by the government to skip the off-season rice growing to avoid negative impacts from drought. In Chaiyaphum Province in the Thai Northeast, people have moved their belongings to higher grounds to avoid damage by floods, following heavy downpours overnight, while local officials were urgently pumping out floodwater which had submerged areas in the Muang Municipality into the Chi River. The Meteorological Department warned, in the meantime, that heavy downpours should continue in some areas of Thailand's northeastern, central and eastern regions in the coming days and people in the areas at risk should be well-prepared for relevant impacts, including floods, although "Mujigae", now a tropical storm, was likely to further weaken into a depression by October 5. In Bangkok, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is accelerating drainage in flood-prone areas and putting pumps on standby in preparation for coping with more downpours, as another tropical storm, Choi-wan, may affect Thailand. BMA Deputy Spokeswoman Bensai Keeyapaj told reporters that there should be more downpours for at least the next 13 days, urging people not to block drainage and waterways. (TNA)