WEATHER
People living in flood-prone areas have been told to stay on high alert throughout this month as cold weather, rising sea levels and tropical storms are set to hit the country.
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| A woman wades through floodwater on Song Wat road in Samphanthawong district as she moves eggs to a safer place. The water levels in the Chao Phraya river yesterday were the highest of the year at 1.35 metres above normal due to the high tide. APICHART JINAKUL |
Communities along the banks of the Chao Phraya river were badly hit by flooding yesterday as the sea level rose to 1.35 metres above the mean level - a record high for this month, said Charnchai Witoonpanyakit, the director of City Hall's water drainage office.
Coupled with the large volume of water from the North, the Chao Phraya river rose to 2.17m, overflowing its banks and inundating more than 700 households along the river's banks in Bangkok, he said.
Residents living near the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram were also flooded by sea water, authorities said.
Rising sea levels were set to continue wreaking havoc on riverine and coastal communities today as water levels in the Chao Phraya river in the Bangkok area and neighbouring provinces looked to hit 2.17-2.58m between 11.30am and 2.15pm, according to the Royal Irrigation Department.
The Meteorological Department yesterday warned residents in the lower Northeast, the East and the South to brace for heavy rainfalls triggered by tropical storm Noul over the next few days.
The tropical storm was centered about 500 kilometres east of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam yesterday morning and was moving west. More rain was likely in the three regions due to the influence of the storm.
Weather expert and chairman of the national disaster warning committee Smith Dharmasarojana said the storm could trigger massive waves up to six metres high and warned coastal communities of the possibility of storm surges.
The department also projected cooler weather and temperature drops of two to four degrees celsius in the Northeast due to a high pressure system in China which will cover upper Thailand today.
"The Northeast is likely to be the first region affected by cold weather from this high pressure system," the department's warning said.
Temperatures in some parts of the northern and northeastern provinces dropped below 20 degrees yesterday.
In Nan, 15 districts have been declared disaster zones as some 40,000 villagers are expected to be affected by cold weather.
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