Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand

The two elephants, 16-year-old Fahsai and 40-year-old Ploython, who was blind, were found dead on Saturday

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Elephants in a flooded area at Chiang Mai-based Elephant Nature Park, in Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:12pm, 6 Oct 2024Updated: 10:43pm, 6 Oct 2024

Two elephants drowned during flash flooding in popular Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai, their sanctuary said Sunday, as local authorities evacuated visitors from their hotels and shops closed in the city centre.

More than 100 elephants at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province were moved to higher ground to escape rapidly rising floodwaters, according to an employee who gave her name as Dada.

But two elephants – named in local media as 16-year-old Fahsai and 40-year-old Ploython, who was blind – were found dead on Saturday.

“My worst nightmare came true when I saw my elephants floating in the water,” Saengduean Chailert, the director of the Elephant Nature Park in northern Thailand, told local media.

“I will not let this happen again, I will not make them run from such a flood again,” she said, vowing to move them to higher ground ahead of next year’s monsoon.

Residents transport their motorbike through a flooded street in Chiang Mai on Sunday. Thailand’s northern provinces have been hit by large floods since Typhoon Yagi struck the region in early September, with one district reporting its worst floods in 80 years. Photo: AFP

In Chiang Mai city centre, people waded through muddy water close to knee height in the night bazaar, and water flowed into the central railway station, which has now been closed.