CHIANG MAI, Sept 28 – The bodies of a family of five, victims of an overnight flash flood, were recovered Wednesday in Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng after torrential forest run-off raced through residential areas late Tuesday night.
The bodies of all five members of the Intarat family, including two men, two women and a girl, were recovered today, three in the late morning and two in the afternoon.
The victims were identified as Chamrat, Saengchan, Pat, Suntorn and Mallika, a nine-year-old girl, according to Anupong Vawongmoon, Mae Taeng district chief.
Earlier, local government officer Duangkam Wuthi said two days of heavy rain in Mae Taeng’s Meuang Kai subdistrict triggered the forest run-off which poured into Ban Kai Noi. He said that four homes built on the river bank were swept away, and he reported that all five members of one family were reported missing.
Meanwhile, the water level in the Ping River flowing through Chiang Mai municipality on Wednesday reached 3.85 metres, exceeding its critical level, and began overflowing.
Responding to the challenge of the rising water, municipal workers reinforced sandbag embankments four metres high.
In a related development, the Hydrology and Water Management Center for the Upper Northern Region warned that the water level in the Ping River today will reach its peak at 4.30 metres. Some communities along the river, particularly Pa Phrao Nok and Charoen Prathet, will be affected.
To brace for the flood, residents in the at-risk communities were moving their belongings to higher ground and placing sandbags to hold back the overflowing water.
Most schools on Charoen Prathet Road were closed temporarily.
In Nakhon Sawan, the unabated flood continued. Some sections of rail tracks are under floodwater, with 22 centimetres deep, disrupting rail traffic.
Chiang Mai-Bangkok and Bangkok-Chiang Mai services are currently suspended.
