Sep 8, 2008 (DVB), Markets in the towns of Tachelik and Mae Sai on the Thai Burma border have been closed in anticipation of flooding due to heavy rain on Sunday, locals said.

A Tachelik shopkeeper said border checkpoints between Tachilek in Burma and Mae Sai in Thailand had also been shut as the water level of the Mae Sai river had risen up to the two friendship bridges linking the towns.

The shopkeeper said the while the Thai government had put in place emergency measures in Mae Sai, the Burmese authorities had not done yet anything about the situation in Tachelik.

Reporting by Htet Yazar