SURAT THANI: A total of 12 houses heavily damaged by recent floods will be moved to new locations to ensure that they will no longer block drainage routes if future flooding occurs.
Surat Thani governor Uaychai Innak said on Saturday that 51 houses had been destroyed by the floods while another 768 were partially damaged. Authorities and volunteers in the province have already helped residents to repair around 60 units.
Mr Uaychai said authorities would help rebuild the houses of affected families. However, houses where land ownership was in question, such as those on national park land, and those that had been blocking natural water channels, would have to be rebuilt in new locations.
Meanwhile, officials from the Irrigation Department are building a 30-metre Bailey bridge to create a temporary link between Moo 3 and Moo 5 of tambon Khlong Sra in Kanchanadit district. The original 60-metre concrete bridge was damaged by the flood and the temporary link is expected to be finished in seven days.
Surat Thani is one of five provinces where the severe floods that started on Jan 1 and peaked around Jan 10, with intermittent downpours since then, have not completely receded.
Chatchai Promlert, director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, said the unseasonally heavy rain in southern Thailand had affected 587,544 households or 1.82 million people in 129 districts in 12 provinces. Ninety-one people died and four are still missing.
The floods also caused damage at 4,314 locations along roads, 348 bridges, 270 drainage channels, 126 dykes, two water reservoirs, 70 governement offices and 2,336 schools.
