BANGKOK: The death toll in the severe flooding in southern Thailand rises to 25 dead, officials said Friday, adding that thousands have been evacuated, after whole villages were engulfed by the rising waters. Floods over a meter deep have washed across swathes of the south as unseasonably wet weather deluged the homes and businesses of around a million people in what should be one of the hottest months of the year. Images in Thai media showed muddy waters reaching to the tops of palm trees, as deadly landslides destroyed homes and bridges and roads were washed away, leaving some areas cut off. The death toll after 10 days of flooding includes five villagers killed by mudslides in Khao Phanom district, Krabi province, where troops were searching for victims in villages submerged by up to two meters of mud in some places. Around 9,000 people have been evacuated from waterlogged areas, including nearly 1,000 holidaymakers stranded on islands in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea who were picked up by naval ships on Wednesday and Thursday. Ferry and air services to the popular resort of Koh Samui have now resumed and the navy said its boats were no longer needed. Bannasat Ruangjan, chairman of the tourism association of Koh Samui, who said 13,000 tourists were stranded on the island earlier in the week, said the situation had “returned to normal” and the floodwaters had receded.
