Phayao’s Muang district inundated as heavy rains cause flash floods
University students abandon dorms and move belongings to higher floors
A depression, which was a remnant of the Soulik storm, brought heavy rains throughout Saturday night, causing flash floods in Phayao province early on Sunday.
Local residents of tambon Mae Ka in Muang district said two canals started bursting the banks and flooding the downtown area, especially communities in front of Phayao University, at 1am.
On Tuesday, the area in front of the university was hit by flash floods and runoffs flowed into the Mae Ka Luang and Huay Kiang canals.
The local people said the situation was like a deja-vu.
On Friday, the Thai Meteorological Department had announced that tropical depression Soulik had weakened into an active low-pressure over the Northeast that could bring heavy rains in the region and the North.
Among the affected areas early on Sunday was the Ban Huay Kian in front of Phayao University.
Students rushed to move their belongings upstairs and left their dorms amid fear of rising water as it happened on Tuesday. Many students were stranded in their dorms. But on Sunday, rescuers rushed to evacuate the students from their dorms in front of the university when the run-offs arrived.
Several roads in Phayao downtown were also flooded.
By late Sunday, the floodwaters in the downtown area and in front of the university had subsided.
The floodwaters continued to flow down canals to the Phayao Lake from tambon Mae Ka, causing the canals in lower areas to burst their banks to flood the communities and roads near the canals.
The flooded downstream areas included tambon Ban Pin and several tambon of Dok Kham Tai district.
Officials said the water level in the Phayao Lake was measured at 47.219 million cubic metres on Sunday, lower than its capacity of 55.65 million cubic metres because the Royal Irrigation Department had earlier released water from the lake in anticipation of more rains and floodwaters.
