AlQa'dah 7, 1432, Oct 5, 2011, SPA - Flooding in central and northern Thailand due to unusually heavy monsoon rains had left 237 people dead and three missing as of Wednesday. Twenty-six of the 77 Thai provinces have been hit by floods this rainy season, which have affected 2.6 million people, according to government figures compiled since July 25. On Wednesday, 400 families were forced to evacuate Bang Phrahan district in Ayutthaya province, 90 kilometres north of Bangkok, as the Chao Phraya River overflowed its banks, according to a report of the German Press Agency "DPA". Officials have been forced to release water from the two largest dams, Bhumibol and Sirikit, into the Ping and Nan rivers, which feed into the Chao Phraya, said Smith Dharmasaroja, head of the Natural Disaster Warning Foundation. Thailand's rainy season usually starts in May and ends in October.
