Tropical storm Mindulle,which brought heavy rain and flooding to the North, East and Northeast, was downgraded to a series of low pressure ridges over the Northern region last night - but downpours, floods and landslides continue in many provinces.
Interior Minister Chavarat Charnveerakul and Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart have urged provincial governors to tackle conditions behind the flooding. Sanan reminded them that 22 storms were forecast this year and so far only six had developed.
Revealing that 190 "monkey cheek" water absorbing areas would be built this year, Sanan said the Royal Irrigation Department would consider the best site for dams.
Despite Mindulle's downgrading, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office Region 10 in Lampang continues to watch for floods. Director Anusorn Kaewkangwal said the office supplied manual sirens to endangered villages in Chiang Mai, Lampang, Lamphun and Mae Hong Son and has urged villagers to use local radio communication to warn of approaching floods.
Lampang's Kew Lom Dam, which holds 80million cubic metres out of 116million cubic metres' capacity, released water into the Wang River at 100-200 cubic metres per second to prepare for more water input.
Following reports that the early warning device at Ban Pa Kham in Lampang's Muang Pan district had malfunctioned, the water resource office in Chiang Mai yesterday insisted devices at all 27 stations were in good condition.
The office inspects the devices three times a year and the latest was on May 19. Since the alarm sends information to the control centre every 15 minutes, the centre would know immediately if the device was broken and send officials to fix it, said office executive Weerawuth Pornratpan.
On August 22, after 12 hours of heavy rains, the forest flooded. The warning device measured 63.5 millimetres of rainfall but failed to sound because it was set at 82.5 millimetres, he explained.
The Mae Hong Son-Mae Sarieng road's 174th kilometre marker area was cleared for traffic yesterday after being blocked by a landslide since Tuesday. The highway authority surveyed parts of the 164th-165th and the 174th-175th kilometre markers that were eroded by water and used heavy machines to repair them. River overflowing late yesterday flooded farmlands in Mae Sa Rieng and Mae La Noi districts.
Uttaradit's Thong Saen Khan district has seen 160 millimetres of rain. Flash floods inundated 5,500 homes, affecting 21,000 residents in Tambon Namphi, Pa Khai, Phak Kwuang and Bo Thong. The area does not have a rain-measuring device and the flood alert was slow, residents said. As they fled to higher ground a 54-year-old man injured his head from a fall while dashing from his home. A relief centre was set up in Tambon Namphi and local authorities supplied drinking water and lunchboxes to the victims.
In Khon Kaen's Ban Fang district, a cyclonic storm badly damaged 102 homes in two villages in Tambon Pawai Nang on Tuesday night, kamnan Triumsak Thipsaeng said yesterday.
Provincial Electricity Authority executive Niraman Janejarassakul has urged flood-risk residents to call PEA via the hotline 1129 to have power metres moved if they were under threat of being flooded. If floodwaters cover a homes' ground floor, residents should turn off the cutout switch as a precaution, she said.