Phichit, Phitsanulok, Lampang, Lamphun and Tak took the brunt of the storm, while the situation in Chiang Mai was improving as waters began to recede.

In Phitsanulok's Muang district, the Nan River rose to 9.4 metres, almost the critical level of 10 metres, local irrigation officials said. A 69-year-old man drowned while going fishing near his home.

In Phichit's Muang district, massive runoff from Phitsanulok's Bang Krathum district swamped farmland and houses. Canals in Lampang's Thoen district swelled to the critical level of 4.5 metres.

In Lamphun's Mae Tha district, three bridges across the Kuang River collapsed and a 10-kilometre stretch of the road was seriously damaged.

"It's the worst flood in my 70 years of living here," said villager Phrommin Phengkas.

In Tak, two districts - Sam Ngao and Ban Tak - were badly hit, both residential and agricultural areas.

In Nan, villagers decided to relocate their community up the hill after a 50-by-100-metre sinkhole was found at a corn farm.

The body of Sathit Eamsua, 41, the engineer of a train derailed by a mudslide covering the Chiang

Mai-Bangkok tracks last Thursday, was recovered but his co-worker Anucha Anurak was still undiscovered. Sathit was found in the locomotive during the search operation. The two men went missing after their locomotive slid into the Yom River during the accident.

The Meteorological Department reported that the southwestern monsoon would continue to wreak havoc this week, dropping heavy rain over 40-60 per cent of the Kingdom. A flash-flood and landslide warning was issued for the North.