Dry in 11 days? | Bangkok Post: learning

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Can the flood water really be gone in 11 days? The Irrigation Department says it can since nearly half the northern run-off has flowed into the sea.

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Parts of heavily-flooded Charan Sanitwong Road are now dry. Could that be true for all of Bangkok in just 11 days? KITJA APHICHONROJAREK

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Capital could be dry in 11 days

Half of northern run-off has flowed into the sea

Apinya Wipatayotin 
Pakawat Sunpituksaree

Bangkok could be drained of water in 11 days, says the Irrigation Department, presenting good news to an anxious city for the first time since northern floodwaters entered the capital.

Nearly half of the northern run-off which has devastated farmland and industrial estates and flooded parts of the capital has now flowed into the sea and the rest will be drained out soon, it said yesterday.

This year's northern run-off has been estimated at 14 billion cubic metres.

Nearly half of that amount has flowed into the sea leaving 8.5 billion cu/m in the Central Plains, said spokesman Boonsanong Suchatpong.

He said that of the 8.5 billion cu/m of water, about 3 billion cu/m is in the Chao Phraya River and 3.5 billion cu/m in the fields in the central provinces and north of Bangkok.

The rest has penetrated flood walls and inundated many parts of the capital.

There is a lot of draining left to do here. A man walks on a road divider to avoid floodwater while a woman struggles through deep floodwater near Soi Chokechai Ruammit on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road. THITI WANNAMONTHA

As the water continues to flow into the sea, the run-off in the fields will gradually drain into the river.

Mr Boonsanong said this would leave only about 5 billion cu/m of water for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to manage.

With about 400 million cu/m of water being drained into the sea every day, the floodwater could be drained out of the capital in 11 days, he said.

Mr Boonsanong dismissed reports the city could be hit by a new volume of floodwater from the North.

He said the water level in Nakhon Sawan was now 1.12 metres below the river banks and the water volume that flowed downstream would not add to the flood woes being experienced by downstream provinces. The drop in the water level in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district and Nonthaburi's Pak Kret districts was also a good sign that less water was coming from the North, he said.

You can read the full, much longer story, here: http://bit.ly/ujifNL

capital – the most important town or city of a country, usually where the central government operates from  เมืองหลวง
run-off – rain, water or other liquid that runs off land into streams and rivers น้ำหลาก
flow – (of a liquid) to move continuously in one direction ไหล
drain – to cause water or fluid to flow out ระบายออก
Royal Irrigation Department – The Thai government department in charge of the country's irrigation system กรมชลประทาน
anxious – worried because you think something bad might happen ที่วิตกกังวล, ที่ร้อนใจ
devastated – badly damaged or destroyed ถูกทำลายล้าง
industrial estate – an area of land where industrial companies have their buildings นิคมอุตสาหกรรม
estimated – thought to be a particular amount, size, etc. based on a guess or the best information available ประมาณการ
penetrate – to go into or through something แทรกซึมเข้าไป, ผ่านเข้าไป, ทะลุเข้าไป
inundate – to flood; to submerge ท่วม, ทำให้จมลงใต้น้ำ
gradually – slowly and in small stages or amounts อย่างทีละน้อย
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) – the local government of Bangkok กรุงเทพมหานคร
dismiss – to refuse to accept that something might be true or important ไม่สนใจ,แย้งกลับ
volume – an amount of something ปริมาณ
woes - great problems or troubles ความเสียใจ, ความทุกข์ร้อน
downstream – in the direction that a river or stream is flowing ตามกระแสน้ำ
level – the amount of liquid that there is in a container, river, dam, etc., which can be seen by how high the liquid is ระดับ
sign – an event, an action, a fact, etc. that shows that something exists, is happening or may happen in the future  สัญญาณ

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