Thailand's Central Region put on alert for flashfloods
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E-mail Xinhua, September 11, 2012
Villagers on both sides of Chao Phraya, Thailand's largest river, have been alerted over the possibility of flashfloods hitting low-lying areas of the country' Central Region as a result of continuous rains during the last few days.
Thai officials have warned that rice fields and other low-lying terrains could be flooded in the next few days, given torrential downpours during the current rainy season and excessive waters from Pong River in the north.
Darongkorn Somton, head of the 12th Irrigation Office in Chainat province, said Monday the rampaging waters from the northern stretches of the river in Tak and Kampangpet provinces could cause flooding in the low-lying rice fields and residential areas on both sides of Chao Phraya River in several provinces, particularly Nakorn Sawan, Uthai Tani, Chainat, Singhaburi, Angthong and Ayudhya.
"Excessive waters from the north are calculated to flow 1,800 to 2,000 cubic meters per second toward Chao Phraya Dam which will release 1,600 to 1,800 cubic meters per second down the river," Darongkorn said.
The floodwater is expected to rise from 50 to 100 centimeters in downstream areas daily, according to the irrigation official.
Though the authorities have already issued an early warning about imminent flashfloods, they have not as yet announced evacuation plans or ordered villagers living in low-lying areas to leave for higher grounds.
Official warning on the possibility of flooding has been particularly directed at the Central Region following the warnings given over the weekend to people in other regions of the country, including the north, northeast, and south.
Farmers in the Central Region could suffer heavy losses as they are currently waiting to harvest their regular crops.
There are also fears that rains could flow from the rice- growing provinces to Bangkok and its satellite towns, namely Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi, as what happened last year when vast sections of the capital were submerged for weeks, wreaking havoc on several business establishments.
Billions of dollars worth of properties, private and public, were lost during the floods in the capital last year prompting the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to impose emergency measures.
In northern suburbs of Bangkok, the government indefinitely put off a "flood test" which had been earlier planned to release excessive waters from Chao Phraya River into several canals in Rangsit, Klong Samwa, Bangkhen and Ladprao areas. Heavy downpours had prompted the authorities to call off the test.
Last week, a similar "flood test" had been held in Bangkok's northwestern suburbs with waters running through Thawee Wattana and Phasi Charoen canals to the Thonburi side of the capital where, the authorities said, water-gates had been fixed and canals deepened or cleared of sediments to better accommodate the excessive waters so as not to repeat what happened last year.
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