One dead, 1000s displaced as floods hit Thailand; Sri Lanka storm claims 6

One dead, 1000s displaced as floods hit Thailand; Sri Lanka storm claims 6 - heads to India
by AFP Staff Writers
Bangkok (AFP) Nov 28, 2024

Flooding triggered by three days of heavy rain has killed one person and displaced thousands in southern Thailand, with more days of rain forecast, authorities said Thursday.

The floods killed one student in Narathiwat province and have displaced more than 2,700 people, Wasan Chaitaweewong, the head of the local department of disaster prevention and mitigation, told AFP.

Prolonged rain has also forced the suspension of 65 local schools, he said.

A heavy rain warning remains in effect, with continuous rain forecast across 70 percent of the province until early December, according to the Thai Meteorological Department.

More than 500 soldiers and volunteers have been deployed to distribute relief kits and assist in evacuating residents to safer areas.

Narathiwat governor Trakul Totham said a team has been set up to accelerate water drainage in affected areas.

An employee at a clothing shop said floodwater had ruined her inventory.

"The water came from the back and it took us off guard," she told local media Amarin TV.

While Thailand experiences annual monsoon rains, scientists say man-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.

Widespread flooding across Thailand in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes around the country.

Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India
Colombo (AFP) Nov 28, 2024 - Sri Lankan rescuers on Thursday recovered the drowned corpses of six children, taking the number killed in torrential rains to 12, as a powerful but slow-moving storm headed towards India.

More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded, Colombo's Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said.

It said two men driving a tractor and trailer which had been transporting the six children in the eastern Amara district when it was swept away in floods, were still missing. Searches continue for them.

Indian weather officials said there was a "possibility" that the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal could develop into a cyclonic storm.

Cyclones -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific -- are a regular and deadly menace in the region.

Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka, it was now moving north towards India's southern Tamil Nadu state.

The India Meteorological Department said it was expected to hit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry city's coastline on Saturday morning as a "deep depression" with winds "gusting up to 70 kph (43 mph)".

Sri Lanka's DMC said some 335,155 people were seeking temporary shelter in public buildings after their homes were swamped.

Nearly 100 homes had been completely destroyed while another 1,700 had been badly damaged due to rains as well as mudslides.

The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations.

Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.