Thai flood death toll rises to 708 with 3 missing

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported on Wednesday that floods still prevail in nine provinces in central region while the accumulated nationwide flood toll now reaches 708 deaths with three people missing. A total of 3,652 villages in 80 districts of nine provinces in the central part of the country -- Bangkok, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Lop Buri, Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and Samut Sakhon -- are still suffering from the ongoing floods. In the South, flooding has hit 2,057 villages in 65 districts of eight provinces -- Phatthalung, Trang, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Songkhla, Yala and Pattani -- causing damage to 118,358 rai (189 square kilometers) of farmland, 783 roads and 113 bridges. Thailand\'s most severe inundation has so far swamped a total of seven industrial estates and parks in central Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani provinces in October, putting more than 1 million people at the risk of losing their jobs and causing initial loss of about 3. 3 billion U.S. dollars. Floods inflicted by heavy monsoon rains and back-to-back tropical storms have ravaged almost 90 percent of the whole country since late July, affecting more than 13 million nationwide. In total 36 out of 50 districts in the capital city were also submerged and the country\'s second airport under flood waters.