Stress caused by a flooded rice-field was a key factor in a farmer in Phitsanulok's Bang Rakam district killing himself, police said yesterday.

The body of Thab Saelor, 39, was recovered from a rice-field pond yesterday morning.

He had been dead for at least 24 hours, said Lt-Colonel Charan Boonmee of Bang Rakam police station.

The man's wife, Lanthom Saelor, 37, told police Thab was under tremendous stress after the Yom River submerged his rice-field, which was dozens of rai in size.

Thab left home on Sunday evening to inspect the rice-field but never came back. His wife went out and found him sitting by the pond looking stressful.

Thab then stabbed himself in the stomach and jumped into the five-metre-deep pond, Lanthom said. She asked fellow villagers to look for him but they failed to find him - until his body floated up.

The Yom River has now risen to 42 metres above mean sea level, equal to the highest level of the flood last October. This has caused villagers to shift their belongings up to the second floor of their homes.

Nearly 81,000 rai of farmland belonging to 772 families was reported damaged in Phrom Phiram, Bang Rakam and Muang districts.

Uttaradit Chamber of Commerce president Somchat Khawirat said the general economic damage caused by the floods may top Bt1 billion.

This, he feared, could lead to the worst economic slump "in 100 years" by the end of 2006 because most local businessmen invest little-by-little or get their business via their families. But families had suffered great losses in the floods and this would delay the local business revival, he said.

Uttaradit's business sector would be depressed by at least Bt1.5 billion, he said.

Provincial industry officer Rapin Woropas said more than a third of the province's 300 factories had suffered damage worth millions of baht. And since almost none had disaster insurance, the business revival was solely up to them, as the civil service could only help by waiving business-related fees for this year.

Meanwhile, in flood-struck Phrae an "army" of nearly 100,000 rats has damaged thousands of rai of rice and corn fields, especially in Den Chai and Long districts.

And villagers in Tak's flood-affected Sam Ngao, Ban Tak and Muang districts have complained of the low-quality goods in relief bags given out by government officials. The bags had goods worth only Bt200 - about half of the official budget for each bag.

The Nation

PHITSANULOK