Flash floods strand tourists in Hat Yai

Flash floods that hit the southern commercial town of Hat Yai in Songkhla province have stranded hundreds of tourists, including visitors from Malaysia, in their hotels.

Thai PBS news teams reported that many of the tourists were having difficulties obtaining food as hotel kitchens were out of service and they could not venture out.

The Malaysian Consulate General in Songkhla, meanwhile, has issued an advisory warning Malaysians to postpone their travel to southern Thailand which is being hit with heavy rains and flooding.

Hat Yai in particular is a favourite tourist destination for Malaysians who often flood the commercial town on weekends.

Many Malaysian tourists who were already in town were reported to have been stranded in hotels by the flash floods. The New Straits Times reported that a Malaysian woman and her two toddlers stranded in one of the hotels have called for help.

It said Lily Suraini, who is staying at the Siam Oriental Hotel, made her appeal via Facebook, asking for essential supplies like milk and disposable nappies for her children, aged two and four years.

She said the electricity had been cut off and her phone battery was running low.