BANGKOK, Sept 6 — As a number of Thailand’s northern and northeastern provinces are being hard hit by severe flooding, Permanent Secretary for Interior Wiboon Sanguanpong assured the public that the central region would not experience massive flooding as in 2011.
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation is working closely with military and provincial officials to prevent flooding and people should not be over-concerned, Mr Wiboon said.
Mr Wiboon said he would ask Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paochinda and concerned government agencies to dredge canals and waterways as well as destroy canal-clogging water hyacinth plants to allow water to flow smoothly during the ongoing monsoon season and for storing water for use during the dry season.
His remarks were made as the Royal Irrigation Department asked authorities manning the Chao Phraya dam to drain floodwater above the dam into irrigation areas, to not impact farmlands and to control water passing the dam to flow at the rate of about 1,100 cubic metres per second.
If successful the water level storage at the dam in Bangkok’s neighbouring province of Ayutthaya would be some 30-50 centimetres higher thanthe present level.
People living along the river banks and outside the flood walls have been warned to be alert for possible flooding in the vicinity.
