KHON KAEN – In response to the severe drought crisis, the Royal Rainmaking Operation Center in the Northeast has performed a cloud-seeding mission which successfully brought rainfalls to five northeastern provinces.
The rainmaking operation has added 1.8 million cubic meters of water to Ubonrat Dam in Khon Kaen and Lamtakhong Dam in Nakhon Ratchasima. The provinces of Kalasin, Chaiyaphum and Udon Thani also benefited from the drought-relief mission. The rainmaking operation base will in mid-April be moved from Udon Thani to Khon Kaen where the weather condition is conducive to cloud-seeding operations.
Up North, drought-hit farmers in Phrae Province are struggling to save their paddies by pumping water from the local irrigation canal into their rice fields as natural water sources have dried up. Despite the governmentโ€s campaign for water-efficient cultivation, there are still a number of agriculturists who continue with the water-intensive rice farming.
The ongoing drought crisis has prompted different agencies to launch aid programs for affected provinces. The army has started giving out water containers to residents in Sa Kaeo Province. The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) on Friday dispatched a caravan of water trucks to three districts in Nakhon Ratchasima and Buriram.
