BANGKOK: Flooding driven by heavy rains in southern Thailand has killed nine people and displaced more than 13,000, officials said Saturday, as rescue teams using boats and jet skis worked to reach stranded residents.
Local media footage showed residents wading through murky, chest-deep water and cars submerged in flooded streets.
“Flooding across eight provinces in southern Thailand has affected 553,921 households and claimed nine lives, prompting agencies to mobilize urgent assistance,” the country’s disaster agency said on its official Facebook page.
More than 13,000 people had been forced to flee their homes, with temporary shelters set up in schools and temples, it added.
Nampa, a resident of coastal Songkhla province, told state broadcaster Thai PBS she was concerned about the dwindling food supplies.
“We are doing fine now, but I am not sure how long can we stay in this condition,” she said.
Two hospitals in nearby Pattani province suspended operations to prevent floodwaters from damaging medical facilities.
In neighboring north Malaysia, the rains have forced the evacuation of at least 80,000 people to temporary shelters this week, with disaster officials there saying at least four people have been killed.
The Thai Meteorological Department has warned that “very heavy rain” could continue to affect some areas of the country’s south through next week.
The government has deployed rescue teams to assist affected residents and designated 50 million baht ($1.7 million) in flood relief for each province.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Friday on social media platform X that the goal was to “restore normalcy as quickly as possible.”
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 the country in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.
Thailand flooding kills nine, displaces thousands
https://arab.news/n3uvx
Thailand flooding kills nine, displaces thousands
- ‘Very heavy rain’ could continue to affect some areas of the country’s south through next week
- The government has deployed rescue teams to assist affected residents
Berlin mayor warns on infrastructure after power station attack
- The far-left Volcano activist group claimed several attacks in Berlin and the neighboring Brandenburg region
- Germany and other Western powers have been on the alert for sabotage attacks on power, communications and transport systems
BERLIN: Berlin’s mayor said on Monday the German capital’s core infrastructure needed better protection two days after an arson attack on a power station left tens of thousands of people without power.
The far-left Volcano activist group claimed responsibility for the attack which also shut down mobile phone connections, cut heating during freezing weather, stopped trains and forced hospitals to switch to back-up generators.
“Left-wing terrorism is back in Germany with increasing intensity,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bild newspaper in an interview.
Volcano, which says it is against the energy industry’s use of fossil fuels, has claimed several attacks in Berlin and the neighboring Brandenburg region.
“There will be talks which we have to have with the federal government about how we can better protect our critical infrastructure, especially in the area of the capital,” Berlin mayor Kai Wegner told a news conference.
Germany and other Western powers have also been on the alert for sabotage attacks on power, communications and transport systems at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
A blaze early on Saturday destroyed a cable duct over a canal, cutting power in around 45,000 households and more than 2,000 businesses in the southwest of the city, including the prosperous areas of Zehlendorf and Wannsee.
Electricity has since been restored for some 14,500 households but full restoration is not expected until Thursday afternoon, Stromnetz Berlin, the city’s network operator, said.
In 2024, the Volcano group claimed responsibility for a suspected arson attack on a power pylon near Tesla’s car factory outside Berlin.
In its most recent annual report, the domestic intelligence agency said left-wing militancy was a growing danger and made explicit reference to the Volcano group.
Bernhard Büllmann, head of Stromnetz Berlin, said restoring electricity to areas still without power would be a complex operation involving high-tension lines that required specialist staff.
