By Napat Wesshasartar and Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Thousands sheltered on Monday in evacuation centres in the Thai capital, parts of it still flooded after havoc brought by intense weekend rain, while swelling reservoirs in an eastern province triggered orders for more to leave their homes.
Entire neighbourhoods were inundated and the drainage network swamped after 320 mm (12.6 inches) of rain fell during two or three days last week, or nearly as much as the sprawling low-lying city usually gets in all of September.
“Over 80,000 residents living in flooded areas are unable to leave their homes,” Unsit Sampuntharat, the permanent secretary of the interior ministry, said in a statement, adding that mobile kitchen and boats were being mobilised in relief efforts.
“The goal is to provide three meals a day to all residents throughout the … flooding period and for at least another seven after waters recede,” he added, amid intermittent showers on Monday.
AT LEAST EIGHT DIE, MORE THAN 580,000 HOMES AFFECTED
Bangkok is among 41 provinces across Thailand hit by floods since September 16 that killed at least eight people and disrupted more than 580,000 homes, the ministry said.
The floods could cause economic damage of at least 11 billion baht ($327 million) nationwide, with the losses likely to rise unless the situation improves, said Aat Pisanwanich of Rangsit University’s economics department.
“The flooding is expected to shave 0.3 percentage points off this year’s GDP growth, reducing growth to 2.1%, and cut third-quarter growth by about 0.5 percentage points to 1.7%,” he told Reuters.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which has lagged regional peers since the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded 1.9% year-on-year in the year’s second quarter, but that was still down sharply from the previous quarter’s growth of 2.8%.
Bangkok and the eastern region are likely to take the brunt of the impact, particularly wholesale and retail businesses, while industry and agriculture will suffer elsewhere, Aat added.
FLOATING FLOOD MARKET
Residents waded through waist-deep waters in the capital’s hard-hit neighbourhood of Bang Kapi to buy essentials from vendors, some of whom set up stalls with floating plastic boxes and drums, three days after incessant rain brought floods.
At least 5,901 people in Bangkok have moved to 234 evacuation centres, a city administration official said.
Sitting on a river delta of soft clay just 1.5 m (5 ft)above sea level, heavily-built up Bangkok is sinking by several millimetres a year, while its population of more than 8.4 million often battles floods in its six-month-long rainy season.
Further east, in the coastal province of Rayong abutting a major industrial belt, authorities ordered evacuations on Monday after flood waters swelled two reservoirs beyond their capacity.
Last year’s catastrophic southern floods, triggered by 630 mm (25 inches) of rain over three days, killed at least 145, inundated more than 33,000 homes and damaged critical facilities such as schools, hospitals and highways.
($1=33.5800 baht)
(Additional reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon and Chayut Setboonsarng; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
