CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) — Several provinces in central Thailand braced for floods Sunday after the Irrigation Department announced it was releasing water from a major dam after weeks of frequent heavy rain.
The rain stopped in the northern city of Chiang Mai, but many people, especially the elderly, remained cut off by floodwaters that in some areas were waist-high or more. Volunteer rescue teams, often traveling by boat, worked to supply them with food or evacuate them.
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CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) — Several provinces in central Thailand braced for floods Sunday after the Irrigation Department announced it was releasing water from a major dam after weeks of frequent heavy rain.
A woman wades through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People hang their belongings around neck through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Tourists evacuate from a flood-hit area in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Novice clean their dish at Upagupata Temple in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A motorcyclist wades through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Tourists evacuate from a flood-hit area in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People drag their belongings through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People drag their belongings through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A Thai Buddhist monk wades through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People and a Buddhist monk wade through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Women wade through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Further complicating the situation, electricity was cut off in some neighborhoods for safety reasons.
Areas popular with tourists, such as the city’s Night Bazaar and Tha Pae Gate, were under as much as a meter (3 1/3 feet) of water.
Central provinces, including the capital Bangkok, have been warned of possible flooding as the Irrigation Department plans to release water from the Chao Phraya Dam to keep it under capacity.
The latest flooding in Chiang Mai began when the Ping River, which runs along the eastern edge of the city, began overrunning its banks on Friday. Flooding is an annual problem in many parts of Thailand during the monsoon season.
Concern remained for animals that had been kept in parks and sanctuaries on the outskirts of Chiang Mai.
Most of the the 125 elephants held at the city's Elephant Nature Park have been led to safety, though some escaped on their own to seek higher ground.
Photos in Thai media showed elephants in water so deep that they could barely keep their heads above it. Thai media reported that at least two elephants have been found dead and several more were unaccounted for.
People wade through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A woman wades through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People hang their belongings around neck through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Tourists evacuate from a flood-hit area in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Novice clean their dish at Upagupata Temple in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A motorcyclist wades through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Tourists evacuate from a flood-hit area in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People drag their belongings through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People drag their belongings through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A Thai Buddhist monk wades through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People and a Buddhist monk wade through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Women wade through floodwaters in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 as the city's main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.
The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.
The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.
In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a new appeal for peace “on every front” is his Sunday Angelus prayer and spoke of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.
“Brothers and sisters, tomorrow it will be a year since the terrorist attack by Hamas against the people of Israel, to whom I renew my closeness,” the pontiff said. He called for the “immediate liberation" of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The pope called for a day of prayer and fasting on Monday, the first anniversary of the attack - which he said sparked a war that has taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“From that day the Middle East has fallen into worse suffering because of destructive military actions that continue to hit the Palestinian people,” the pontiff said. "It is most of all innocent civilians, they must receive the necessary humanitarian aid.”
The pope repeated his plea for “an immediate ceasefire on every front," including Lebanon.
"Let’s pray for Lebanese people, especially for the people in the south forced to leave their villages.”
TEL AVIV, Israel — Ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli military on Sunday displayed thousands of weapons seized from the militant group.
The military, which created the display at a sprawling army base south of Tel Aviv, said it has retrieved more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Gaza and destroyed double that number, as well as seized thousands of other items including drones, explosives, RPGs, scuba equipment, machine guns, sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles and weapons manufactured both inside Gaza and in Iran, Russia and North Korea.
The army also displayed homemade explosives it said Hamas used to burst through the border barrier on Oct. 7. It said they were crafted specifically after years of studying Israel’s border during years of Hamas-organized violent protests along the fence, including as early as 2018.
“What Hamas did on Oct. 7 was storm Israel with all their abilities at one time,” said military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. He said that the Israeli military had seized the weapons from Hamas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to study the types of weapons used as well as track where they came from.
As Israel prepares for a day of somber memorials marking a year since the attacks, the military said it was increasing troop presence in Israel’s south to protect memorials taking place along the Gaza border.
A large memorial planned by bereaved families was expected to draw a crowd of more than 40,000 in Tel Aviv, but will be broadcast with only direct family members and media in attendance due to warnings from the military of possible rocket attacks from Lebanon.
BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.
The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.
Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.
Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.
France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.
Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”
In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”
“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.
The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.
Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.
The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.
The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.
BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.
The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.
Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
