A farmer in Nakhon Ratchasima was killed and another injured by lightning during a storm that swept through the upper part of the country yesterday, leaving a trail of destruction.
Prachuab Phunok, 62, died yesterday morning after being struck by lightning while tending his cows in a field in tambon Makha in Nong Sung district.
Pol Capt Intares Bunthoon, a duty officer at Phonsongkhram police station said the man almost certainly died immediately.
Prachuab Raksai, 55, was injured when he was also struck by lightning while tending cows on his farm in tambon Rangka Yai in Phimai district.
Uttaradit province was pounded by torrential rain and hailstorms.
Hardest hit was Thong Saen Khan district where 30 homes were damaged and 14 electricity poles felled causing blackouts lasting several hours.
In Lampang province, a village in Hang Chat district was hit by a flash flood late on Monday night after heavy rain fell on nearby Doi Khun Tan National Park, local officials said yesterday.
Tipawan Saelinwong, the Pang Pong Pang Sai village headman in tambon Wiang Tan, said runoff caused water levels in the Huay Mae Tad stream to rise rapidly, bursting its banks.
The floodwater poured through the village, which has about 20 households.
Frightened residents woken by the torrent scrambled to prevent their belongings from being washed away.
In Phitsanulok, a big tree fell on a van parked on the Wang Nok Aen-Ban Klang road in Wang Thong district during a downpour. Rescuers cleared away the branches and helped people from the van. The vehicle was badly damaged, but nobody was hurt.
In Buri Ram, storms -- the strongest in 50 years according to local villagers -- tore the roof off Ban Thaworn School in tambon Sawaichik.
In the western province of Kanchanaburi, many parts of Tha Muang district were pounded by a violent storm and up to 60 houses in tambons Wang Khanai, Thung Thong and Tha Muang were heavily damaged.