PRACHIN BURI: A torrent of water from the Khao Yai National Park surged through canal-side villages in Prachin Buri early on Wednesday morning, with residents battling water about one-metre deep.
Residents of Ban Khao Noi and Ban Khok Kruat in Prachantakham district were the first to feel the deluge which overflowed the banks of Prathet canal around 2am, Banthoeng Panyadi, chief of the Pho Ngam tambon administration organisation, said.
"The water then moved across a local road and on its way to Ban In Trai," he said, ordering officials to cope with the situation and the inundated communities.
Prachin Buri is one of four provinces which are home to the vast, 2,200-square-kilometre Khao Yai National Park.
Officials said the flooding was caused by mountain runoff, which poured out of Ta Khlo waterfall and down into Prachatakham canal.
The runoff was so powerful the sluice gates had to be opened to discharge water from the Prachantakham barrage dam. It flowed into connected canals downstream, which burst their banks.
"I was plucked from sleep by neighbours shouting 'water coming'," Khai Chaikaeng, a 76-year-old grandmother at Ban Khok Kruat, said.
She saw the flood bursting into dozens of houses and the water rapidly rising to nearly one-metre deep.
People rushed to remove their belongings, amid fears of further torrential runoff as the rain showed no sign of letting up over the mountains.