Flood-hit vendors complain about slow warning

They lamented officials had not warned them early enough to avoid loss from flood damage.

As some threw damaged goods away, others cleaned and repaired things and sold them at a discount.

Nuan Boonsri said electrical appliances had suffered partial damage worth Bt250,000 in the Thursday flood. After the nearly-one-metre-deep floodwater fell in the afternoon, vendors quickly cleaned up their shops, she said.

But Sai River overflows had the place under three-metre-deep water again at 2.30am on Friday, prompting some to move goods to higher ground, she said. Total damage could be Bt10 million.

Another vendor said his shop had suffered Bt300,000 damage and he was now cleaning it and would reopen next week. He criticised officials for not warning the vendors - most of whom did not stay in the shops at night - to move their goods.

Another vendor said he heard that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej had visited flood-hit Ban Pha Jom. Spotting a motorcade passing, he said many vendors were annoyed that Samak had not stopped at the market too.

An informed source said the Thai Township Border Committee had contacted its Burmese counterpart about building flood barriers along the Sai River to prevent future floods.

But the Burmese argue floods were caused by three dams, upon which Thais living on 60,000 rai of farmland depend. The dams should be torn down, the source said.

Tambon Mae Sai deputy mayor Anek Kham-opas yesterday said that pending the Thai-Burmese negotiations, the Public Works Dept would spend Bt400 million to build flood barriers.

He said the severe flood partially came from river encroachment.

Mae Sai is hit several times in September. He warned of two more floods next month.

In Sakhon Nakhon, Deputy Interior Minister Suphon Fongngam visited and gave 2,000 relief bags to flood-hit residents in Muang and Khok Sri Suphan districts. They were declared disaster zones after the "worst rains in 30 years" in early August caused floods, affecting 12,900 people and damaging 76,000 rai of farmland. After water levels at reservoirs and rivers fell damages were estimated at Bt100 million.

In Trang, four hours of heavy rain sent forest runoff into four villages in Huai Yod on Friday night. Tents were set up on a road to shelter 50 families who fled their homes.