(Bangkok) Floods caused by heavy rains have killed five people and submerged more than 2,000 hectares of farmland in northern Thailand, authorities said Thursday.
New Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has called for aid to be sent to the worst-hit areas of Chiang Rai, Nan and Phayao provinces, near the border with Myanmar and Laos.
Since the beginning of the month, the bad weather has killed five people and injured 32 others, according to the health ministry.
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said 2,052 hectares of farmland had been destroyed and 12,777 households had been affected by the floods, without specifying the exact number of people.
The north of the kingdom has been hit by heavy monsoon rains over the past week and the department said it was monitoring water levels in 43 provinces, warning of the possibility of further flash floods, landslides and rivers bursting their banks.
The kingdom’s rainy season, which runs between July and September, usually brings months of daily deluges, but scientists say man-made climate change may make the rainfall more intense.
In 2011, floods killed hundreds of people and damaged millions of homes across the country.