Mountain run-off on Monday night hit five villages in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, near where the young Moo Pa (Wild Boars) football team was recently rescued from a cave in a closely followed international operation.
Mae Sai district chief Somsak Khanakham and district officials visited the five affected villages in Tambon Pong Ngam on Tuesday morning.
Officials were dispatched to move some families stranded in their houses to stay at a temporary shelter provided by the Tambon Pong Ngam Administrative Organisation.
Officials said the run-off from the Nang Non Mountains hit some 500 houses in the five villages late on Monday night. The floodwater inundated the Mae Sai-Chiang Rai road for about two kilometres. At certain spots, the water was as deep as 80 centimetres.
The name “Nang Non” translates to “reclining woman” in English. A Thai legend has it that she was a run-away princess who died and became a mountain. Her spirit is said to haunt the Tham Luang cave where the football team was recently trapped for 17 days.
