Nightmare at Samakkhi Witthayakhom, a century-old school in northern Thailand in Chiang Rai: around sixty students, trapped by the sudden rise in water levels in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, had to be rescued by boat on Thursday.
“The flood came so fast that we didn’t have time to prepare,” a shocked 18-year-old student told AFP after hours of waiting and a night of anguish in the dormitories with his classmates on this secondary school campus.
“I was scared,” he said, as the flooding, described by local residents as the worst in decades, caught emergency services off guard.
“We were stuck there since (Wednesday) afternoon around 3pm, until today (Thursday). There were also villagers from nearby areas who had swum to escape the flood waters, about 60 to 70 people,” he added, asking to be identified as Kraiwit.
“We managed to evacuate about 800 children, but 60 remained behind” because of the sudden rise in water levels, Philip Pornchai, a Catholic priest who is coordinating rescue operations on site, confirmed to AFP.
“I have lived in Chiang Rai for almost 10 years and I have never seen anything like this. Most people here do not remember seeing water at this level in the city,” he said.
Across Southeast Asia, millions of people have been hit by floods and landslides in the wake of a typhoon that swept through the region on Saturday, killing more than 200 people and causing destruction in northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
In the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, at least four people have died, including two victims of a landslide.
Ultimately, in Chiang Rai, it was not until Thursday that rescuers managed to recover the remaining children as water levels continued to rise.
– “Terrible, really terrible” –
But in the city, the usually bustling streets of the center were still submerged in waist-high brown water as the sun broke through the clouds Thursday morning.
Some residents waded in carrying buckets filled with food and basic necessities collected from their homes.
Rescue trucks and boats were scouring the area in search of trapped residents.
In the back of a truck, a woman in a wheelchair, in tears, watched as her three meowing gray cats were pulled from their flooded home and brought to dry land.
For Pyae Phyo Aung, originally from Burma, this is the first flood in the 12 years he has lived in the city.
“When we packed up, the water level was up to my thigh, but when I came to see my house in the evening, it was up to my waist.”
Shop owners rushed to protect their businesses with sandbags on Wednesday as the waters rose.
A food vendor with a street stall is still reeling from his experience with the floods on Wednesday.
“It was terrible, really terrible (…) I had to close my store. My refrigerator and my car were flooded,” said the man, who wanted to be identified by his nickname, Nat.
“I have lived here since I was born, 47 years ago, and I have never seen such a flood.”
Local authorities are predicting further rain in the coming days, which could complicate rescue operations and pose an additional threat to homes in low-lying areas.
“We are doing everything we can,” Father Pornchai assures, “but it will take time.”
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