Flash floods have swept through a village in Uttaradit's Laplae district, forcing an evacuation of the small settlement.

Tired locals, already having weathered devastating floods last month, fled their homes yesterday as water again swept through tiny Ban Naree village.

No one was injured.

Laplae district chief Thongchai Teyathiti said he was told about the flooding on Monday night by a Ban Naree village headman in Tambon Phai Luang.

Rescue teams managed to evacuate almost 50 villagers to high ground at Ban Donsak School, he said.

"Although there was no damage, people are terrified every time it rains now," he said.

With weather reports suggesting more heavy rain over the next few days in Uttaradit and local waterways already swollen, Thongchai said he was concerned about landslides.

At nearby Tambon Mae Poon, Ban Maharat village head Sabai Thechai urged the government to provide an effective disaster-warning system for villagers living in fear of floods and landslides.

She said some people had jokingly suggested on Monday that landslides had already started, prompting locals to gather at the Tambon Hua Dong administration office, only to find they were in no danger. "Please don't scare flood-affected villagers," she said.

"They're currently living in their old homes, the ones that are still habitable, waiting for the government to find them new homes elsewhere. If people go around telling lies, in a real emergency people might not take any notice, because they'll think it's another hoax . . . and then people might die."

Deputy Governor Suksan Wanaphuti said provincial officials had been constantly briefing village headmen on weather conditions and, should rainfall reach 50 millimetres an hour for 24 hours straight, villagers living in high-risk areas would be evacuated.

Normally people are evacuated when rainfall hits 90mm per hour for 24 straight hours, but in Uttaradit, where mountain soils are soft and don't have much capacity to hold water, landslides are likely, he said.

Meanwhile, in the southern province of Trang, where it has rained heavily for three days,

two metres of floodwater rushed through 65 houses in Ban Khok Wa, Ban Khok Yor-Huai Rieng and Ban Tham Lae villages in Muang district's Tambon Na Tho Ming, local official Wiroj Kaewpittaya said yesterday.

Local authorities have dispatched three flat-bottomed boats to take emergency supplies to affected villagers, he said.

The Nation

Uttaradit