Mekong River bursts its banks and floods downtown Nong Khai
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Officials and local residents said the river started overflowing at around 7.15am to flood vast areas of the province.
PHOTO: THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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The Mekong River, which has been bloated with flood waters from upstream provinces, burst its banks on Sept 15 morning, flooding the Muang district of Thailand’s Nong Khai province.
Officials and local residents said the river started overflowing around 7.15am and flooded vast areas of the province.
The overflowing caused the entire Prachak Sila Pakhom Road in the downtown area to be inundated. In some places, the water level was more than 1m high.
The flood waters on the bloated river continued to flow downstream to Bueng Kan and Mukdahan provinces. The waters mainly came from the Sai River that flowed into the Mekong via the Ruak River. The Sai River, which originates in Myanmar, swelled following days of heavy downpour in Myanmar and Chiang Rai.
Local officials dispatched flat-bottomed boats to inspect flooded communities and evacuate them as the waters were still rising.
The Muang Nong Khai Municipality reported that at 7am, the water level on the Mekong River measured 13.81m.
The Mekong River, which flows from China, enters Thailand in the Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai province and flows past the Chiang Khong district before entering Laos. From Laos, it flows into the Chiang Khan district of Loei province and continues to Nong Khai, Bueng Kan, Nakhon Phanom Mukdahan, Amnart Charoen and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
The massive flood waters are expected to reach Cambodia and Vietnam by Sept 17 and 19, respectively. THE NATION/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK
