BANGKOK, THAILAND – Devastating floods in southern Thailand were slowly receding, but more than 236,000 people in five provinces were still facing severe hardship.
Hundreds of villages still under water
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) issued a new assessment on Saturday, 6 December 2025. The provinces of Surat Thani; Nakhon Si Thammarat; Trang; Phatthalung; and Songkhla were still affected, with a total of 22 districts and more than 534 villages remaining fully or partially flooded. Despite falling water levels, 84,450 households were struggling with the flooding and its aftermath, disrupting the lives of 236,375 people.
Songkhla and Hat Yai most severely hit
The epicentre of the disaster was clearly in Songkhla province, where 69,016 households were affected, representing the overwhelming majority of all victims. The city of Hat Yai, described as the economic heart of the south, was particularly hard hit, and cleanup and reconstruction efforts there were in full swing. The Interior Ministry had mobilised three key agencies to clear mud and debris from the city and restore damaged infrastructure.
Relief operations and state compensation
Relief operations were under way, with the DDPM and partner organisations distributing survival kits, food and drinking water. Mobile kitchens were preparing hot meals, while pumps and specialised vehicles were deployed to remove standing water from inundated areas, making drainage the top priority. In parallel, applications for state compensation were being processed, and authorities assured the public that all those eligible would be compensated in line with existing regulations.
Persistent health risks and deep psychological strain
Even as the water receded, the real struggle was only beginning, with thousands of homes left contaminated, damaged or uninhabitable. The threat of waterborne diseases and the loss of household goods and livelihoods weighed heavily on affected families, while the psychological burden was described as immense. The floods had starkly exposed how vulnerable infrastructure in the south remained to extreme rainfall, underlining the need for long-term solutions.
Race against time and the next rains
For rescue and emergency teams, the situation was a race against time, as they tried to secure basic supplies while simultaneously launching reconstruction. Every dry day counted, since further heavy rain could quickly worsen conditions again, even as nationwide solidarity was reported to be strong and the scale of the task enormous. Southern Thailand was expected to need many weeks, if not months, to recover from the force of this natural disaster.
Open questions over future protection
The flooding left 236,000 people affected, houses destroyed and roads submerged, while a round-the-clock relief system strained to meet needs. Questions were being raised over whether the south now needed radically new protection systems against such events. The disaster also fuelled debate over whether the floods once again showed that the impacts of a changing climate had already reached every village in the region.