Bt75m flood damage in six Northeast provinces

"There is damage to property and farmland on a wide scale," Wallop Theppakdee, the head of a local office of disaster prevention and mitigation, said.

These six provinces have suffered from flooding for many days.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, flooded farms prompted many locals to catch fish in floodwater instead. Flooded fields have also become recreational areas for locals who come to splash in the water and relax amid the crisis.

In Khon Kaen, up to 107,163 families are suffering from floods that have damaged 514 roads and six dykes.

The Ubonrat Dam, which is located in Khon Kaen, has been taking in up to 125 million cubic metres of water a day. "This is critical," said Pipat Kongsintaweesuk, a representative of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand at the dam. He said the dam was now 74.33 per cent full.

"As we expect more run-off water from upriver, we are going to discharge up to 10 million cubic metres of water each day," he said.

While accepting that the discharge of such huge amounts of water would hurt many locals, he said it was necessary. He also pointed out that downpours in the province had already stopped.

The flooding situation has already eased in Chaiyaphum town. "All roads in the Muang Chaiyaphum municipality are no longer flooded," said Chaiyaphum Governor Thavorn Prommeechai.

However, the central province of Prachin Buri looked set to face an even grimmer fate as run-off water from upriver was expected to raise the water level in the overflowing Prachin Buri River by 30 centimetres today. The floodwater was already over 2.5 metres deep in the worst-hit areas.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Prissanananthakul, who inspected the flooding in Prachin Buri yesterday, believed the construction of four more dams would be an effective, long-term solution for the area. He said it would cost about Bt4 billion to construct one of these dams.