Tropic Storm Nalgae worsens flooding in Thailand

The weakened Tropical Storm Nalgae on Thursday begins to wreck havoc in Thailand, a place that is already extremely vulnerable to downpours after a two-month inundation that has claimed 237 lives and caused an estimated 30 billion baht in damage. In a town on the bank of the Chao Phraya river about 100 km north to Bangkok, residences and shops are inundated by three- meter overflow, prompting those living in the capital city and adjacent low-lying areas to worry that the deluge may soon take over their homes. In a Tuesday warning issued by the Disaster Monitoring Centre at the Interior Ministry, Tropical Storm Nalgae, combined with the southwesterly monsoon wind, was expected to bring light to heavy rains to a large part of Thailand from Oct. 6 to 8. Nalgae has been moving southwestwards, sweeping Philippines, southernmost China and Vietnam and has largely downgraded into a depression as it touched northern Thailand Wednesday. However, with all of the country's major dams reaching 92 percent of their full capacity, even a small storm might bring full-scale damage. Many dams were forced to release rising waters but only left the area downstream suffering more. Ayutthaya, a historical area in central Thailand, has experienced a flooding mayhem since Tuesday, with its many ancient sites, including the 500-year-old Chaiwatthanaram temple -- a UNESCO heritage site -- half-submerged in surging waters and 43 factories in a large industrial district damaged, most of them Japanese ventures. A total of 237 people had been killed by the floods and three were still missing, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said in a report Wednesday. In its first rough estimate, the government on Thursday put the cost of flooding that has been battering the country since late July at 20 to 30 billion baht. "The government expects flood damage of 20-30 billion baht or 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent of GDP, but the real impact will be estimated later," the Bangkok Post quoted Commerce Minster Kittiratt Na-Ranong as saying.