Thailand News Today | Southern floods, Face mask fines, Thai Air Asia woes | January 8

Thousands of residents in Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat, in the very south of Thailand, have been evacuated from their homes due to flash flooding from nearly a week of almost continuous heavy rain.

Local authorities say a total of 18,024 households across 19 districts have been impacted.

In Yala, the Sai Buri River has burst its banks, flooding homes and farmland. The director of Yala’s Irrigation Project Office says they remain worried about the low-lying areas, adding that the total amount of rainfall to date has broken records set more than a decade ago.

Landslides have also been reported but with no report of fatality or injuries.

In Songkhla, 2 districts were flooded by rainwater coming down from the mountains, while some residences and farmlands on riverbank areas of Narathiwat were flooded. Local government agencies said food and other aid were already sent to the affected…