Critical drought persists in several Thai provinces

BANGKOK, May 2 (TNA) - Critical drought has persisted in several Thai provinces, heavily affecting local people as most natural water sources are drying up. Expanding drought in Chiang Mai province in the Thai North has caused as many as 16 out of a total of 25 districts to have been declared drought-stricken areas, with two latest ones including Saraphi and Doi Saket, troubling over 200,000 people and damaging nearly 64 square kilometers of local farmlands. The critical drought has also remained in Wang Sai Phun district of Phichit province in the Lower Thai North, where tap water production has stopped in 57 villages, as natural water sources have dried up and local officials have distributed water to local drought victims on a daily basis. In nearby Uthai Thani province, water levels of the Sakaekrang River have subsided rapidly over the past five days, affecting the production of tap water in the heart of the province, prompting local authorities to have rationed tap water. In Uttaradit province, also in the Lower Thai North, a storm has flattened rice plants on the ground in the Baan Dan locality of Muang district, forcing local farmers to have harvested manually. In Nakhon Phanom province in the Thai Northeast, a number of farm animals, especially poultry, have apparently died from the heat but local authorities are scientifically finding out the exact cause and have now imposed strict disease control in the Baan Klang locality of Muang district, a major location of provincial chicken farms, and have also restricted poultry transportation. Water in the reservoir of the Rama VI Dam in Tha Rua district of Ayutthaya province in the central Thai region, which receives water from the Cha Phraya River through the Chai Nat-Pasak Canal and from the Pasak Chonlasit Dam, has now depleted and sand beds have emerged as water intakes at the Rama VI Dam have been very limited. (TNA)