Ongoing floods in Thailand kill 615

Overall 615 people have been confirmed dead while three missing during the three-month inundation, the worst in half a century, Thai Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported on Sunday. Floods which have widely hit 65 out of 77 provinces have receded in most areas but still prevail in 16 central provinces as well as four other southern provinces. Nearly 1.9 million households or over five million people are still facing flood situation. Flash floods and landslides just occurred few days ago in four southern provinces on the eastern side after heavy monsoons had battered the region, affecting more than 31,000 families. Since late July, the whole country, except for the southern region, has suffered from the disastrous deluge caused by heavy monsoon rains and back-to-back tropical storms. Over 13 million or one in every five Thais have been affected. Tens of thousands of manufactures were swamped, putting over a million of employees at the risk of losing their jobs and causing about 4.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of loss, let alone the economic damage which was expected to be between 23 billion to 28 billion U.S. dollars.