Irrigation department warn of flooding in central Thai provinces around the Chao Phraya River
Bangkok, and 10 other central Thai provinces, are being warned by the Department of Irrigation, of overflows from the Chao Phraya which will start tomorrow in the northmost provinces.
The provinces affected are Uthai Thani, Chainat, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri, Lop Buri, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, and Samut Prakan, and Bangkok.
People living near the Chao Phraya River are being warned to prepare for overflows due to discharges of excess rainwater through the Chao Phraya Dam.
Director-General of the Department of Irrigations, Praphit Chanma says large ammonites of excess water, produced by rainfall in the past seven days, principally in the Nan river basin and its Kwae Noi and Pasak tributaries, will arrive in the central Chao Phraya reservoir during today and will force authorities to “increase the discharge rate.”
The increase in water discharges is likely to breach the banks and cause flooding in low-lying areas in 11 provinces. The central province of Ayutthaya has been alerted to potential flooding starting as early as tomorrow.
Annual flooding in low-lying areas of the Chao Phraya is a common problem at the height of heavy rains during the annual monsoon. Last Wednesday Bangkok was drenched with some of its heaviest rain on record, one district in central Bangkok receiving nearly 150 millimetres of water in one hour last Wednesday evening.
SOURCES: Thai PBS World
