Meanwhile, a community on the Nan River bank in the downtown of the northern province has been inundated after the river burst a flood levee.
Nan Governor Phaisarn Wimolrat and Muang Nan Municipality Mayor Surapol Thiansutr visited the Ban Suan Tan community shortly after the river burst its flood levee at 6.40am this morning and the water from the bloated river gushed into the community, flooding it. The community was quickly under 30 centimetre-high water, causing problems for small vehicles.
Officials have since said that water has started seeping into other communities along the river.
Surapol said the water level in the river has surpassed the crisis level to now reach 8.4 metres – the same level as during the 2006 “great flood”.
But Surapol said the damage this year could be less than in 2006, because flood levees have subsequently been built along the river banks and local residents have been warned in advance of possible flooding.
At 7.10am workers were using sandbags to build flood levees around the Nan Provincial Hospital. At 7.50am, hospital officials closed the bridge near the hospital.
The Meteorological Department has warned to brace for heavy rain and isolated heavy downpours through Sunday even though tropical storm Bebinca has weakened.
Bebinca was downgraded to a low-pressure cell as it moved across the upper North of Thailand at 7am Saturday and later moved into Myanmar, the department said.
