Toyota, Japan’s biggest automaker, announced on Wednesday that production at its three plants in Thailand has temporarily halted until Oct 15 due to severe flooding which has disrupted parts supply.

Toyota Motor (Thailand) senior vice president Vudhigorn Suriyachantananont said the current flooding disrupted delivery of necessary auto parts, so the company opted to suspend  production at its three plants temporarily.

The company, however, is evaluating progress on delivery of supplies before making a further announcement, Mr Vudhigorn said.

Honda Motor (Thailand) earlier said it had closed its production lines from Tuesday until the end of this week after two industrial estates in the historic city of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, were inundated. Hundreds of new Honda cars were submerged.

via Toyota temporarily suspends production in Thailand.

The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of all workers in the Ayutthaya Hi-Tech Industrial Estate due to possible flooding.

IEAT Director Montha Pranutnorapan said the mandatory evacuation announcement followed as earlier request Oct 7 for cooperation from all factories to voluntarily close.

Nearly all 143 factories at the estate are auto parts manufacturers.

However, the authorities now fear difficulties in evacuation if flooding hits the industrial estate, so it orders immediate evacuation.

According to latest reports, all factories have been shut down and an initial report indicated that the flood breached flood prevention wall at Hi-Tech on Wednesday morning.

The IEAT said Deputy Prime Minister/Commerce Minister Kittirat Na Ranong is inspecting reinforcement and elevation of the flood prevention wall north of the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate from 5.5 metres high to 6.5 metres.