Flooding in Thailand’s central provinces is still critical, as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the flood situation can now be assessed until Oct 13 before new storms arrive. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is confident that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will be able to deal with the approaching floods because of the city’s good drainage system.
Ms Yingluck said after meeting top military brass Sunday afternoon that priority was to be given to evacuating people from flood-hit areas and providing them with necessities such as food and medicine.
Regarding evacuating local residents in Ayutthaya, she said a military camp in Saraburi was being prepared as an evacuation centre. Historic sites in city of Ayutthaya under high flood water except for Phananchoeng temple.
The water level has continuously increased, as water from Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya’s Maha Rat and Bang Pahan districts had flooded some parts of Ang Thong’s provincial seat, where the water level was as high as one metre, resulting in some 4,300 residents being left stranded.
The latest update reports flash floods breaching the street and destroying many electric power lines.
Ang Thong Hospital is still open in all departments, as two layers of dykes have been built there, while it has provided mobile medical units to flood-hit areas, and is willing to receive patients from other flood-affected hospitals.
Ang Thong Hospital’s hotline is 1669 serving emergency patients round the clock.
In Nakhon Sawan, local authorities have reinforced dykes along the river and in the provincial municipality to prevent flooding from hitting the town centre, and are distributing help to other areas facing large scale flooding.
Health officials are using boats to hand out medicine to flood victims who refused to leave their homes for evacuation centres.
More run-off is expected to reach Nakhon Sawan in the next few days, according to a reporter.
Meanwhile, the Marine Department has cooperated with the private sector to use more than 100 boats to push water in the Chao Phraya River into the Gulf of Thailand on Tuesday.
The director-general Tawanrat Onsira said the department was working with the Thai Shipowners Association, owners of tourist boats and restaurant boats to join operations to push water towards the sea while the department’s patrol boats will direct water traffic. (MCOT online news)
via Water situation in central provinces still critical.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is confident that the BMA will be able to deal with the approaching floods because of the city’s good drainage system.
Ms Yingluck told reporters today she has instructed both the BMA and the Royal Irrigation Department to cooperate in installing over 200 permanent water pumping machines around the capital and expediting the digging and clearing of canals in order to facilitate faster flowing of floodwaters to the sea.
The prime minister quoted the Bangkok governor as saying he would efficiently protect the city from floods but it was a matter of wait and see as another evaluation was needed in the middle of this month when another storm and high tides were forecasted. Ms Yingluck said officials were monitoring water levels at all rivers and evaluating the situation on a day-to-day basis.
The prime minister also ordered an increase in the number of the Flood Relief Operation Centre hotline 1111 ext 5 after complaints were made on insufficiency of the line. The prime minister also urged those suffering from floods to be patient and show sympathy towards each other as the government was trying its best to solve the problem. Villagers in some affected areas were reported to destroy flood barriers built to prevent floodwater to enter other villages, leaving them outside a safe zone and causing dissatisfaction over unfair treatment. As for a report that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had offered to help save world heritage sites in Thailand from flooding, Ms Yingluck said the Thai government had not yet requested any assistance so far.
