Residents of a village in Mae Hong Son's Pai district have called for local agencies to relocate their village out of high-risk areas for flash floods.
Locals in Mae Na village of tambon Mae Na Toeng made the call Tuesday after monsoon rains sent brownish runoff from a mountain downstream into various creeks and eventually into the Pai River in Pai district. The river burst its banks on Saturday morning.
Riverside resorts and homes were devastated by the floods and tourists and locals evacuated to higher ground.
Prapan Thanapongchote, 50, Mae Na village headman, said 173 residents from 40 families in Mae Na village are living in fear after the Saturday floods.
Houses, community shops, a sports centre, riverside homestays, tourist attractions and fish ponds were flooded after a creek overflowed, sweeping away farm animals and fish, Mr Prapan said.
"I remembered the first time flash floods hit our village in 2005. The damage was severe, and the floods came again on Saturday."
"We want help to move out of here. Authorities should help relocate our village to a safer place. Every time it rains, we can't sleep," Mr Prapan said.
He said residents had once asked Lum Nam Pai Wildlife Sanctuary officials in Pai district to help relocate them to the sanctuary to no avail. The officials were afraid the villagers would encroach on public land.
Meanwhile, floodwaters on Tuesday started to recede in Nan province but 65 schools in seven districts remain closed until further notice.
Suwant Promsuwan, the Nan governor, said he ordered his officials to bring food, water and medicine to flood victims.
Thongplew Kongjun, deputy chief of the Department of Royal Irrigation, said heavy rains in the upper Yom River in Phayao's Pong district had swollen river levels downstream in Phrae.
Residents in low-lying areas would be affected. They were warned to move their belongings to higher ground and evacuate.
People in 13 northern provinces have been advised to brace for more rain, with isolated heavy falls, over the next few days, the Meteorological Department said in its bulletin late on Tuesday.
A monsoon trough lying across Myanmar, the upper North of Thailand and Laos, along with a low pressure cell in Tonkin Bay of Vietnam, are bringing the rain.
The 13 provinces are Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Phrae, Lamphun, Lampang, Tak, Sukhothai, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok and Phetchabun.
Songkran Agsorn, deputy chief of the Meteorological Department, said heavy rains are expected in the North tomorrow and Friday.
Flash floods hit many villages in the North this week, causing severe damage to property and one death in Nan.
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported that 3,405 families in Phayao were affected by heavy floods with one person missing, 7,339 families were hit in Mae Hong Son and 4,009 families in Nan.
Waves in the Andaman Sea and the upper Gulf of Thailand are likely to reach a height of 2-4 metres. All vessels are advised to proceed with caution while small boats should remain ashore until Friday.
