Hundreds of water pumps installed for floods in Bangkok and nearby provinces

Thailand’s Royal Irrigation Department is working to fight the floods currently wreaking havoc on Bangkok and its vicinity. Yesterday, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister announced that the department installed more than 220 large water pumps to drain water from the capital and its surrounding provinces, Nation Thailand reported.

The minister, Chalermchai Sreeon, said the pumps were draining 45 million cubic metres of water per day or about 525 cubic metres per second. They are draining floodwater into the Chao Phraya River on the western side of Bangkok, into the Nakhon Nayok and Bang Pakong rivers on the eastern side, and into the Gulf of Thailand in the south.

Chalermchai said the Irrigation Department and Agriculture Ministry have been trying to manage water flow above and below the Chao Phraya Dam with all channels and in all directions. He said the department used both canals and water retention areas to fight the floods, along with removing weeds from all waterways.

Chalermchai added that since July 11, the Irrigation Department has drained about 2 billion cubic metres of water into the sea with installed pumps ahead of the rainy season.

The floods have certainly taken a toll on daily life in Bangkok. On Monday night, deep floods on Chaeng Wattana Road caused traffic to come to a standstill. Paramedics were forced to abandon their ambulances and push patients to hospitals on stretchers on foot through the water.

Along with the heavy rainfall, dumped garbage has also worsened Bangkok’s floods.

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