Some 38 Thai villagers died on Saturday and at least 43 were missing after pre-dawn flash floods and landslides hit a northern province drenched by week-long rains, officials said.
The deputy chief of Phetchabun province's Lom Sak district, Satja Voraphan, said floodwaters and mudslides from the Khor mountain hit seven villages in the valley below.
Rains associated with typhoon Usagi, which has left tens of thousands of people homeless and at least two dead in neighbouring Vietnam, continued to fall and the situation was chaotic, he said.
Officials were attempting to contact the affected area by radio. Our top priority is to help the survivors and search for dead bodies, Satja said, adding that the confirmed death toll had risen to 38, but the exact number of missing remained unclear.
The area which suffered the flash floods is vast, and therefore it is hard to know how many are still missing, he said. I expect the death toll to go higher.
However, provincial authorities in Phetchabun said that at least 43 people were missing, and that some 1,000 villagers had been affected by the disaster that completely or partly destroyed more than 100 homes.
Local authorities were organising relief operations but their work was hampered by the metre-high floodwaters and debris, including logs and mud, that littered the area.
More than 1,000 soldiers and rescue workers were working to locate the dead and help victims in three local regions. Medical teams have set up a makeshift shelter to treat more than 100 injured people.
Bureau Report
