BANGKOK (Reuters) – Heavy rains from Tropical depression Mulan caused flash floods on Saturday, with towns at the Thai-Myanmar border submerged after rising water levels breached an earthen dam in Myanmar’s Shan State, local media reported.
The flood water, which had mostly receded on Sunday, inundated more than 2,000 households in Mae Sai township in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province as well as Myanmar’s Tachilek border town, local media Thai PBS reported.
A Thai official said an earthen dam located 37 kilometers north of the border was breached since Friday causing waters of the Sai river to rise rapidly and triggering the flood.
“The dike along the river that used to keep water levels under control were breached and water overflowed into the streets and people’s homes,” Narongphol Kid-arn, the mayor of Mae Sai, said.
“In some parts, the water was at waist and chest levels,” he said.
Thai PBS footage show relief personnel wading through flooded streets to distribute food to people stranded in their homes in Mae Sai. There were no reports of casualties.
Separately, Thailand’s National Water Command Centre on Saturday issued a warning that heavy rain in Laos could cause water levels in the Mekong River to rise by up to two meters between Aug. 14 – 18.
(Reporting by Juarawee Kittisilpa and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
