Some areas in upper Thailand faces flooding

BANGKOK - Some districts in northern province of Lamphun and central Ayutthaya province in Thailand have been flooded after continued heavy rain.

Forest runoff triggered by continued heavy rain hit the northern province of Lamphun Wednesday morning, while six districts in the central province of Ayutthaya are now under floodwater.

In Lamphun, about 50 homes and commercial areas, as well as hundreds acres of farmland in the Lamphun provincial seat, are under up to nine metres of floodwater.

Lamphun Disaster Rescue office on Wednesday closely monitored the situation and may add the two flooded districts, Ban Thi and Mae Tha, as disaster zones, The Nation reported.

In the central province, a community in Ayutthaya's Bang Ban district was submerged under one metre of floodwater in the same location of Thailand's worst flooding in 2011. During 2011 devastative flood, the community was under four metres of floodwater.

Meanwhile, Thailand's Public Health Ministry has warned the public not to drink rainwater at this time as the high level of acidity of rainwater was recorded.

Preecha Prempree, director of the Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases, under the Public Health Ministry, said on Wednesdat that rain and heavy rain are forecast nationwide but the public should not consume rainwater, particularly those living in industrial areas as they could be affected by high levels of acidity.

The sites at highest risk of acid rain are industrial areas and surrounding coal-fired power plants, he added.