By Chayut Setboonsarng and Ashley Tang
BANGKOK/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Thailand put its military in charge of tackling a devastating flood crisis on Tuesday and readied reinforcements to evacuate thousands of people, as heavy rain hobbled relief efforts after some of the worst flooding to hit the south in years.
Floodwaters running as high as 2 metres (6.6 feet) in some areas have struck nine southern provinces and killed 13 people in Thailand, while eight states in neighbouring Malaysia were inundated, across a swathe of hundreds of kilometres hit hard last year by deadly seasonal monsoon rains.
Thailand’s military flew in a C-130 cargo plane with supplies of medicine, food and water and the navy said a flotilla of 14 boats and the aircraft carrier Chakri Naruebet would depart later on Tuesday with two helicopters, doctors and field kitchens that can supply 3,000 meals a day.
“The fleet is ready to deliver forces and carry out actions as the Royal Navy orders,” the military said in a statement, adding the carrier could also serve as a floating hospital.
TRUCKS, BOATS AND JET SKIS MOBILISED
Operations have been focused largely on the southern commercial hub Hat Yai, a centre for Thailand’s rubber trade and its fifth-largest city. Its provincial governor said boats, high-clearance trucks and even jet skis were being used to evacuate residents.
Hat Yai received 335 mm (13 inches) of rain on Friday, its highest in a single day for three centuries.
“I ask people to leave the area 100% because if the floods are high, there will be problems providing food and care,” Governor Ratthasart Chidchod told Channel 3 TV.
Television images showed brown waters rushing through Hat Yai’s commercial streets, while residents waded through high waters, clinging to floating polystyrene boxes as rubber boats evacuated others in orange life vests.
The waters submerged cars and flowed around a stalled fire truck that was abandoned in a street.
“Calls have been coming in non-stop in the last three days, in the thousands, asking to be evacuated and others for food,” said a member of a volunteer group, the Matchima Rescue Center in Hat Yai.
An estimated 2.1 million people have been affected in Thailand, with 13,000 moved to shelters and many others cut off and unable to get help.
“We are five people and a small child without rice and water,” Facebook user The Hong Tep posted in an appeal for help on the Matchima group’s page. “Phone reception has been cut – water is rising fast.”
‘DIFFICULT AND CHALLENGING TIME’
In Malaysia, more than 19,000 people have been moved from flooded areas to 126 evacuation centres set up mainly in northern border areas.
In the state of Perlis, rescue teams slogged through knee-high water to enter homes while rescue boats ferried the elderly and children to safety, images from its fire department showed.
A team of rescuers sent to the worst-hit state of Kelantan bordering Thailand could fan out to other states if needed, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Facebook, urging people to comply with orders to evacuate.
“In this difficult and challenging time, I pray that all flood victims are granted strength, resilience, and protected from any harm.”
The floods could wreak disruption in Thailand’s rubber industry, among the world’s largest producers and exporters of the commodity.
Thailand’s central bank said 70% of commercial bank branches were closed in the five worst affected provinces, while Industry Minister Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said 17 power plants were offline and authorities were boosting and redirecting output from other provinces.
Thanakorn said 715 factories in Songkhla had been flooded, causing 1.28 billion baht ($39.6 million) in damage, and factories still able to operate were struggling to receive deliveries of raw materials.
Posts from stranded people desperate for help ran into the thousands on the Facebook page of Hat Yai’s Matchima rescue group.
“Water is on the second floor now,” wrote one of them, Pingojung Ping. She said she was one of six trapped, two elderly people among them. “Pray. Please help.”
($1 = 32.3000 baht)
(Reporting by Chayut Seotboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat in Bangkok and Ashley Tang in Kuala Lumpur; writing by Martin Petty; editing by Clarence Fernandez and Mark Heinrich)
