RTM staff, family stranded in Hatyai floods with supplies running out

ALOR SETAR: Continuous heavy rain since Friday afternoon (Nov 21) has triggered flooding in several parts of Thailand, including Hatyai, leaving many Malaysian tourists stranded after major roads were cut off.

For Wan Nur Asyikin W A'zemim, 33, a journalist and radio announcer with Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) Langkawi, the situation has become increasingly worrying as she and her family wait for help with dwindling basic supplies.

Travelling with her husband, their nine-month-old son, five-year-old daughter and four colleagues, she said what was supposed to be a short trip has quickly turned into an anxious ordeal.

"We arrived around 1.30pm yesterday (Nov 21) after travelling from Langkawi to Padang Besar and then to Hatyai by public transport.

"It was raining heavily the entire afternoon, but we didn't expect it to get this bad. Around 3 am, something made me look outside our hotel, and I was shocked to see how fast the water had risen," she said when contacted on Saturday (Nov 22).

What troubled her most was the rapidly shrinking supply of essentials for her young children.

"My baby is almost out of milk and diapers. My five-year-old daughter has very little food left.

"The children are hungry. We didn't bring extra because we were supposed to go home tomorrow (Nov 23)," she said, adding that the hotel has since lost electricity, while phone and internet lines remain unstable.

"I have contacted the Malaysian Consulate here. They told us the authorities have been informed and assured that help will be sent soon," she said. – Bernama