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Monsoon floods hit Thailand
11/10/2006 16:25 - (SA)
Bangkok - The worst monsoon floods in more than a decade are sweeping through Myanmar and Thailand, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake, officials said on Wednesday.
At least 13 people have been killed over the last few days
in army-ruled Myanmar, where the 690km main rail line between Yangon and Mandalay was among many severed connections, they said.
In Thailand, where 39 people have died in flash floods and
landslides since August, the Chao Phraya river spilled into
low-lying parts of Bangkok, a sprawling city of 10 million
people.
In a desperate bid to prevent widespread flooding,
authorities have been building sandbag and concrete defences
along city centre river banks and diverting the flow upstream
into rice fields near the ancient city of Ayutthaya.
High tides
High tides have also contributed to the danger, although
officials said sea levels peaked on Tuesday, so the Thai
capital should be spared unless there are huge amounts of rain
up-country in the coming week.
The floods - the worst since 1995 - in Thailand's rural and mountainous north have already left their mark, sweeping away roads, bridges, and schools and ruining crops.
Around two million people in 46 of the country's 76 provinces
have been affected, officials estimate.
- Reuters
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