Caring Thais have donated money and commodities to support relief operations, which are being organised by government agencies, as well as the private sector.

The Bangkok-based Nation Group, for example, has been accepting donations and preparing to take much-needed food, medicine and other necessities to flood-hit residents.

In the dry part of flood-hit Yala, locals have donated relief items to help flood victims in nearby Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung. The items were transported to recipients via the Nakhon Yala Municipality, which dispatched four full trucks yesterday morning.

And in Nakhon Ratchasima in the Northeast, dry food and instant noodles have also been arriving at a foundation for two days already after it announced a plan to send necessities to people in the flooded areas.

The Royal Thai Army handed out at least 500 bags of relief items yesterday, along with 12,000 water bottles and 200 sets of fried chicken and sticky rice to flood victims in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Cha-uat district.

Days of heavy rain have left some residents in Trang province marooned for nearly one week already.

Speaking from his flooded home in Phatthalung province, Chong Jeenduang, 54, said: “In the face of floods, life becomes difficult. We would like to thank the soldiers for easing our woes to an extent.”

Over the past week, more than 950,000 people in southern provinces have struggled with widespread floods. At some hard-hit spots, floodwater is a few metres high and has completely submerged one-storey houses.

More rain forecast

Although the situation improved in Yala and Ranong yesterday, it was predicted that an incoming low-pressure ridge would cause heavy rain in the South from tomorrow onwards.

As a result, people in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun will have to remain on alert for possible flash floods. Nakhon Si Thammarat has already been hit by one of its worst floods in three decades, according to governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada

“Floods have raged on since January 2 and they have caused seven deaths in Nakhon Si Thammarat to date,” Chamroen lamented.

Casualties have also been reported in several other southern provinces.

According to the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD), the raging floods have caused 19 deaths in the South while another person is missing.

The Public Health Ministry has been busy dispatching 64 mobile medical teams to the flood-affected areas. Over the past week, the teams treated more than 10,000 people.

“We are reaching out to patients with chronic illnesses. With floodwater all around, these patients can’t go to hospitals to see doctors and get medicine,” the ministry’s permanent secretary Sopon Mekthon said.

Authorities have also warned small trawlers against going to sea, as the weather conditions are rough.

Sittiporn Jilao, president of Tambon Koh Libong Administrative Organisation in Trang’s Kantang district, said waves were between four and five metres high.

“These waves are violent. They have already brought down 11 houses along the coast,” he said. Local people had had to be evacuated to safe places.

In Phuket, a small fibreglass boat capsized in rough seas, throwing all four people into the water. Fortunately, all wore inflatable vests and a nearby boat rushed in to help.

Meanwhile, train services along the Bangkok-Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Thung Song route resumed yesterday as floodwaters receded. The suspension had dragged on for days because floods damaged train tracks and wreaked havoc in the South.

However, the Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport remains closed.