Bangkok officials working to prevent river overflows

Bangkok officials are working to prevent overflows from the Chao Phraya River. This news comes after the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation warned last week that Bangkok and the other 10 provinces along the river needed to prepare for floods from July 28 until August 1 (tomorrow).

Now, Bangkok’s governor Chadchart Sittipunt says the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is working to plug the 20 gaps in the city’s flood wall. He said the BMA has been given a budget to fill 13 of the gaps with sandbags. The wall spans 88 kilometres across Bangkok.

Chadchart has ordered officials to be prepared for an emergency. He acknowledged that there are areas vulnerable to floods. He said, however, that officials are doing their best to prevent flooding in these spots. He added that the army was helping to unclog the drainage system in various canals.

Annual flooding in low-lying areas of the Chao Phraya is a common problem at the height of heavy rains during the annual monsoon. On July 20, Bangkok was drenched with some of its heaviest rain on record, with one district in central Bangkok receiving nearly 150 millimetres of water.

Traffic in the Wattana business district was also crawling as both cars and foot traffic had to wade through the draining waters.

SOURCE: Pattaya Mail