Thailand clean up after a week of floods
Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding in parts of Thailand. After six days of torrential rain, around seven districts in Nakhon Si Thammarat, in southern Thailand were flooded including the island of Samui.
Around 30,000 people have been affected with over 100 schools having to be closed.
On the island of Samui heavy rain and floods cut off many roads and saw the suspension of dozens of flights. Around 1000 tourists were left stranded on Thursday. Local authorities have been working around the clock to pump floodwaters out of the affected areas. The flooding in Samui alone has been estimated to have caused up to 100 million baht (over 1.5 million pounds) in damage to roads and public utilities on the resort island.
Two days after the persistent rain stopped, and the floodwaters had now begun to recede thanks to a spell of drier and settled weather. Tourists came out to bask in the sunshine on Chaweng beach on Saturday. Despite some warm spells of sunshine, forecasters predict some scattered heavy thundery showers for many parts of southern Thailand over the next few days.
