The death toll in flash floods in southern Thailand this week has risen to 11, the country's Crisis Prevention Centre said Saturday.    On Friday, officials had put the death toll since January 1 at six.

    Most of the victims drowned, the center reported, while persistent heavy rainfall and floodwater have impacted over 744,000 people across 11 submerged provinces as of Saturday. The flooding prompted the authorities to raise the disaster management level to level three on Friday, transferring authority from the provincial level to national officials. 

    Level four, reserved for the most severe natural disasters, was put in place for floods in 2011 that killed 815 people and affected 13.6 million others, crisis officials told the (dpa). Police rescued five stranded tourists Friday from a flood-hit resort in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.

    Two are Finnish, one is German, and two others are Thai, local newspaper (The Nation) reported. Popular tourist destination Koh Samui island was also affected by heavy rain and strong currents.

Source: QNA