16 die in Thailand floods

BANGKOK: Severe flooding across Thailand has left at least 16 people dead and more than half a million people struggling to cope with damaged property and disease, officials and news reports said Sunday.

Floods caused by heavy rain have deluged 21 of Thailand's 76 provinces in the north, east and centre of the kingdom, affecting 693,550 people, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said in a statement.

Nearly 1,900 houses, 659 roads and 75,500 acres of farmland have been destroyed in the floods, which began earlier this month, they said. The cost of the damage is estimated at 28.55 million baht (840,000 dollars).

The department said that two people remained missing. It did not say how the 16 people were killed, but local media reports said most had been swept away in flood waters.