Death toll from Thai floods hits 100
BANGKOK, Oct 30 (AFP) - 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 Saturday.
Six more people have died in the disaster, which began on October 10,
the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand said in its daily update.
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 Myanmar boy who drowned in Phathum Thani.
Authorities said that while 22 of Thailand's 76 provinces were still
flooded, the waters have receded in 16 others.
The authorities estimate that about five 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 250 kilometres
(155 miles) northeast of Bangkok, is the worst affected with 18 deaths
and about 40 centimetres (16 inches) 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
flood water 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 have been partially submerged.
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