Thailand’s military on Wednesday sent troops, helicopters and boats to rescue people stranded by flooding in southern provinces that has killed at least 33 people and displaced more than two million others over the past week.
Thailand is one of several Southeast Asian countries where relentless monsoon rains have wreaked havoc this month. Dozens of people have died from flooding and landslides in Vietnam, and deadly floods in Malaysia and Indonesia have led to evacuations and rescues.
In Thailand, nearly half of the 33 deaths from flooding were reported in the southern provinces of Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul earlier declared a state of emergency in Songkhla.
In Hat Yai, the largest city in Songkhla, images showed roads submerged in murky floodwaters several feet high, as well as people trapped on roofs and clinging to electrical wires to stay above the deluge. The province borders Malaysia and is a key trade and transit point.
The sudden floods across nine provinces prompted a large deployment of resources by the Thai military, including a C-130 military transport plane that the Air Force sent to deliver aid supplies. The Navy said on Tuesday that it had sent 14 boats and an aircraft carrier with two helicopters, medical personnel and field kitchens.
Photos posted on social media by the Royal Thai Army on Wednesday show soldiers carrying people out of flooded homes.
Paradorn Prissanananthakul, the director of the prime minister’s flood emergency response program, urged people in southern provinces who had not yet left for shelters to evacuate immediately.
This year’s monsoon season has been heavier than usual in Southeast Asia. Experts say that is partly a function of the La Niña climate phenomenon, in which strong trade winds push warm water across the Pacific toward East Asia, creating conditions for storms to form.
Since late last week, a northeast monsoon combined with a low-pressure system in the Andaman Sea to bring isolated rainfall to southern Thailand, the Thai Meteorological Department said in an advisory.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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