BANGKOK, Oct 17 – Suvarnabhumi Airport has been on 24-hour alert for floods and the anti-flood dyke around the airport has been checked regularly to prevent inundation of the facility, according to the Airport of Thailand (AoT).
Rawewan Netrakavesna, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said the airport is surrounded by a 23.5-kilometre dyke at 3.5 metres in height and three metres in width. The base of the dyke is 37 metres wide.
Airport officials have checked the strength of the dyke to ensure that it could resist flooding while water level in canals around the airport and the sluice gate have been closely checked, she said.
She said six reservoirs around Suvarnabhumi Airport could retain four million cubic metres of water and the water level has been maintained at 1.5 metres from mean sea level, adding that the reservoirs could still receive three million cubic metres more.
The airport has two pump stations, on the southeastern and southwestern sides, each equipped with four pumps with a combined drainage capacity at 12 cubic metres/second, she added.
She reaffirmed the airport has prepared a contingency plan to cope with any emergency.
