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Thailand floods death toll jumps to 145; government faces mounting anger
While the Thailand toll has climbed quickly, monsoon rains in the country’s lower southern region are forecast to ease over the next day.
The death toll from flooding and landslides in Thailand climbed steeply on Friday, heaping misery on a country struggling with a deep economic slump and triggering criticism of the nation’s roughly 10-week-old government.
There have been 145 fatalities across southern Thai provinces, with 110 deaths in Songkhla province alone, government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat said in a briefing in Bangkok. That’s almost double the toll reported early Friday. More than 1.25 million households and 3.6 million people have been affected in some way, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said earlier.
The flooding comes at the end of a difficult year for Thailand, which in March was severely rocked by an earthquake in neighboring Myanmar, and in July saw border clashes with Cambodia that killed dozens. The economy shrank 0.6% in the three months through September from the previous quarter and tourism has been sputtering, and the floods will add to economic challenges, especially in the south.
“The government can’t deny its responsibility,” Siripong told reporters, acknowledging that “errors have occurred” during efforts to manage the disaster.
There has been criticism of the government’s handling of the floods, though Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is heading for an election next year, earlier this week invoked special emergency laws to accelerate relief efforts. The minister overseeing the emergency flood operations center, Paradon Prissanananthakul, walked out of a Thursday press briefing after being asked if the government should admit misjudging the situation, leading to deaths.
“A big cleanup will be implemented as the water level is receding,” Paradorn said at Friday’s press conference.
The past week has seen parts of Southeast Asia inundated with heavy rains, with Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also affected.
In Indonesia, tropical cyclone Senyar’s heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides in three provinces in Sumatra island, the nation’s main oil palm growing region. At least 72 people have died over the past few days, with dozens more missing and hundreds of families displaced, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.
While the Thai toll has climbed quickly, monsoon rains in the country’s lower southern region are forecast to ease over the next day, though thunderstorms are still expected, according to the Meteorological Department. There should be little rain from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, it said.
Bank of Thailand Senior Director Pranee Sutthasri said the floods have already disrupted economic activity and that the provinces of Songkhla and Nakhon Sri Thammarat, among the worst affected, account for about 2.6% of annual gross domestic product. Cross-border tourism has also been hit, with roughly 10,000 Malaysian visitors entering through southern provinces each day, she said.
She said the overall economic impact will partly depend on post-flood reconstruction spending, adding that the central bank will assess the situation at its next interest rate meeting on Dec. 17. Some analysts say the magnitude of the damage could raise the odds of a Bank of Thailand rate cut at its Dec. 17 meeting.
Krungsri Research has estimated economic losses from the floods in Thailand at up to 23.6 billion baht ($734 million), with the hotel and restaurant sectors suffering “significant” damage. Separately, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce put preliminary losses at as much as 1.5 billion baht a day.
Losses to the industrial sector in the affected provinces will still have to be assessed further, according to Supakit Boonsiri, director general of the Office of Industrial Economics. There are about 3,500 industrial manufacturers located across nine southern provinces, Supakit said.
(Rewrites with updated toll and details from government briefing.)
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