BANGKOK — 19 August 2026, Deputy Prime Minister Yodchanan Wongsawat has ordered Nan, Phayao and Lamphun provinces to urgently prepare for flooding and flash floods, including 24-hour Cell Broadcast alerts and a standby KA-32 helicopter.
Yodchanan, who is also Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Minister and chair of the northern regional flood and drought prevention committee, signed an urgent order to the three provincial governors on Tuesday.
The order follows a Meteorological Department forecast warning of thunderstorms, isolated heavy rain and strong winds in August, which could cause flash floods, forest runoff and rivers to overflow.
The committee set out eight measures for immediate implementation:
- Closely monitor and assess conditions, coordinating with upstream areas and neighbouring provinces. Authorities were told to focus on flood-prone communities,
densely populated areas, economic zones, tourist sites and key transport routes. - Improve the speed and accuracy of warnings through Cell Broadcast alerts and provincial, district, local and community-leader communication channels.
- Pre-position personnel, boats and water pumps in high-risk areas, with round-the-clock operations. A KA-32 disaster-relief helicopter is to remain on standby for evacuations and deliveries to inaccessible areas.
- Prepare temporary shelters with adequate facilities, food, drinking water, health care, kitchens and cooking supplies.
- Provide continuous updates on river and waterway levels, low-lying risk areas, and warnings for raft operators, restaurants, riverside residents and tourists travelling into affected areas.
- Set up incident command centres if flooding occurs, mobilising resources and prioritising assistance for vulnerable groups in coordination with provincial social development and human security offices.
- Quickly survey and record damage so relief payments can be made fairly and promptly under government policy and Finance Ministry emergency-disaster assistance rules.
- Coordinate with local Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Ministry agencies to support flood response, moving belongings and post-flood clean-up around the clock.
The measures were issued under the Prime Minister’s Office Order No. 275/2026, which established five regional flood and drought prevention committees to speed relief efforts.