NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha promised that all houses ravaged by storm Pabuk will be quickly repaired, as the confirmed death toll from its passage across the South rose to four on Monday.
Gen Prayut, on a visit to storm-hit areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat, told residents in Pak Phanang district that the surveying of damage done to houses will be completed within 15 days, and all will be repaired inside a month after that.
The prime minister also visited the family of Preecha Chankaew, a volunteer who drowned on Friday while helping evacuate people during the storm.
Pak Phanang district was hardest hit when the tropical storm made landfall there on Friday, bringing strong winds, pounding coastal waves and torrential rain to Nakhon Si Thammarat and other provinces. Pabuk moved out of the southern region into the Andaman Sea on Sunday after weakenig to a tropical depression.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department on Monday said flooding persists in some areas in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Chumphon. Six shelters remained open in Pak Phanang where 970 residents had decided not to return to their damaged homes. More than 720,000 people in 23 provinces were affected by the storm, the department said.
The Royal Irrigation Department on Monday warned the Trang River could overflow, swollen with runoff from Thung Song district in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Districts in Trang at risk of flooding included Muang and Huay Yod, it said.
The government has not yet assessed total damage from the storm or its impact on the economy.
The known death toll from Pabuk climbed to four when the body of a man washed ashore in Yaring district in Pattani on Sunday was confirmed on Monday to be the missing crewman from a trawler that sank on Friday.
District chief Oran Billson identified the man as Chalong Jantana, 52, a crewman on the Chok Malinee, which sank in rough seas near the Pattani coast. One other member of the crew died, but four made it to shore safely.
