PUBLISHED : 9 Aug 2023 at 06:34
Heavy downpours have brought on landslides and flash floods, damaging roads in Nan and Mae Hong Son in the North and Tak and Kanchanaburi in the West.
Continuous rains have pummeled Pua and Bo Kluea districts in Nan province, with mountain slopes unable to absorb rainwater resulting in three landslides along Highway 1256 and four along Highway 1081, blocking traffic.
The Highway Department of Bo Kluea district has ordered a maintenance and construction team in Phichit to install a prefabricated Bailey bridge at those parts of the highways hit by landslides. It is estimated it will take a few days before traffic can resume.
On Tuesday, Nan provincial governor Wiboon Waewbandit and local officials visited Bo Kluea district to inspect damage from the heavy rains and landslides. Officials said Ban Bo Luang School is being used as a temporary shelter for locals from 14 households at risk of being hit by landslides.
Meanwhile, in Tak, continuing rain has caused subsidence on roads and flash floods damaging both Mae Sot district of Tak and the neighbouring Myawaddy township in Myanmar.
Heavy rains have inundated the main road connecting Myawaddy to Hpa-An township in Karen State. Households in Myawaddy were also flooded, and traffic and transport were suspended.
On Tuesday, subsidence occurred on Highway 105 in Tha Song Yang district of Tak, causing a five-metre deep and 60-metre-long crack along the road, which halted traffic.
Tak Highway District 2 (Mae Sot Office) has built an emergency road diversion and it plans to install a Bailey bridge on damaged roads.
The Geohazards Operation Centre has warned that the provinces of Mae Hong Son and Nan in the North and Tak and Kanchanaburi in the West will see flash floods until tomorrow.
The Thai Meteorological Department’s forecasts from Tuesday till Friday indicated that a moderate southern monsoon will lie across the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.
At the same time, a low-pressure trough will cover southern China and northern Vietnam, resulting in heavy rains across Thailand’s North.
At the weekend, the moderate trough will move past the North and Northeast of Thailand and Laos to join the low-pressure trough covering northern Vietnam.