Water at Mae Sai’s Sai Lom Joy Market Area Slowly Recedes

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CHIANG RAI – Governor of Chiang Rai Province, Mr. Narongsak Osottanakorn, has led a group of officials and military officers from various units in a rehabilitation project for the Sai Lom Joy Market in Mae Sai District after water had receded considerably.

It is expected that the situation will completely return to normal unless more rain comes in the next few days.

Merchants at the market have also helped officials in the clean-up and put much of their merchandise back on the shelves, including those items damaged by the water and now marked down which has successfully attracted shoppers.

Techilek, Shan State, opposite Mae Sai on the Thai border, has flooded for three days.

“Three prominent places in Techilek were flooded. Tarlot market near the Mae Sai bridge was also flooded. Evacuation works were carried out by the military, fire brigade and funeral service association. There were no casualties,” said Hla Moe, chairman of the Techilek funeral service association.

Floods in Thailand have claimed a total of 36 lives and affected more than 600,000 households since early July have receded in 38 provinces but nine remain inundated, a senior official said on Saturday.

Days of heavy downpours brought by tropical storms Talas and Sonca triggered flash floods in 44 provinces between July 5 and Aug 18. A total of 609,425 families in 14,105 villages were affected and 34 people died, Chatchai Promlert, head of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, said on Saturday.

The flooding damaged 2,574 houses, 2,401 bridge-necks, 207 bridges and 8,753 weirs, he said. About 1.51 million rai of agricultural land and 149.4 rai of fishing areas were also damaged.