2010-10-26 15:16

BANGKOK - The flood-related death toll in Thailand climbed up to 56 on Tuesday as the flood caused by heavy monsoon rainfall ravaged nearly half of the provinces of the country, which started two weeks ago.

The Nation online quoted the Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit as saying that of the 56 deaths 49 are drowned. As of Monday the reported death toll was 41, and 940,000 households in 32 provinces were affected by the ever expanding flood.

Jurin said the Public Health Ministry had also received reports that 170,000 people had suffered from waterborne diseases.

He said the ministry was urgently making mobile toilets to distribute to the public in flood areas.

Bangkok is bracing itself for the expected peak water level of the Chao Phraya river, which runs through the capital city, as the runoff from those over-loaded reservoirs of the northern and northeastern part of the kingdom is arriving.

Some communities along Chao Phraya are already inundated by flood water as the Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra admitted the situation in Bangkok was critical.

He said he had asked the Royal Irrigation Department not to release more than 5,000 cubic metres a second from the upriver reservoir for a period of 24 hours. Bangkok would be inundated if the flow into the Chao Phraya reached 5,000 cubic metres a second, said the governor.