The death toll from severe floods in Thailand has risen to 100, including at least three foreigners, although the waters have receded in some areas, officials said yesterday.
Six more people have died in the disaster, which began on Oct. 10, the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand said in its daily update.
FOREIGNER DEATHS
Among them was a 38-year-old Dutchman, named as Harald Vusser, who was electrocuted or drowned in Ayutthaya Province just north of Bangkok on Friday, it said.
Local media reported he was helping his Thai wife move her belongings to a dry place.
The other foreign victims were a 44-year-old Cambodian woman who was killed in a mudslide earlier this month on Koh Chang island in Trat Province, and a two-year-old Burmese boy who drowned in Pathum Thani.
Authorities said that while 22 of Thailand’s 76 provinces were still flooded, the waters have receded in 16 others.
THE AFFECTED
The authorities estimate that about 5 million people have been affected, with homes submerged and farmland or cattle destroyed, mostly in central and eastern areas, although life is slowly returning to normal for some.
Tens of thousands of people have sought medical treatment, mostly for itchy skin, common colds and stress.
Nakhon Ratchasima, a large mountainous province about 250km northeast of Bangkok, is the worst affected with 18 deaths and about 40cm of rain this month.
Nakhon Sawan and Lopburi just north of the capital have also been badly hit.
Bangkok has been on standby with thousands of sandbags and pumps as floodwater from the north runs downstream and could coincide with high tide. So far, the capital has avoided major flooding, although more than 1,000 homes along the Chao Phraya River have been partially submerged.
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