Rescuers in the nation readied drones yesterday to airdrop food parcels, as receding floodwaters in the south and neighbouring Malaysia brightened hopes for the evacuation of those stranded for days, while cyclone havoc in Indonesia killed 28.
Severe floods after a week of heavy rain have killed at least 33 in Thailand, with tens of thousands huddling in evacuation centres, some after being cut off for days by waters as much as 2m high.
“It’s a race against time,” Thai government spokesperson Siripong Angkasakulkiat told Nation TV, adding that rescue teams were preparing to use drones to deliver food parcels, relying on satellite Internet in the face of telecoms outages.
“We have to help them out,” he added, saying authorities expected to rescue even more people.
The receding floodwaters are allowing disaster teams in Thailand and Malaysia to boost aid deliveries and efforts to move people out of waterlogged homes.
The floods affected nearly three million in nine southern Thai provinces, authorities said, with 3,000 moved to safety from the worst-hit city of Hat Yai, including some critically ill airlifted on Wednesday from a partially swamped hospital.
Thousands have been marooned on rooftops in the commercial hub by record rainfall, which stood at 335mm last Friday, its highest in a single day for 300 years.
Thailand pushed relief efforts into higher gear when the military drafted in at least 20 helicopters, planes and convoys of trucks to deliver food, medicine and small boats on Wednesday and made a public appeal for boats and jet skis.
The country’s only aircraft carrier, Chakri Naruebet, is also providing air support, food and medicines.
In Indonesia’s province of North Sumatra, a tropical cyclone unleashed floods and landslides to kill at least 28, with 10 missing. Power outages and damaged bridges and homes hampered rescue efforts, the disaster agency said.
Kompas TV showed images of earth sliding down a hillside to pile up in front of homes, while gushing waters higher than 1m high swept along debris and the branches of trees. — Reuters
