Bangkok braces for prolonged heavy rains and floods

Bangkok braces for prolonged heavy rains and floods

A commuter rushes to get on a public bus in Bangkok during heavy rain. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
A commuter rushes to get on a public bus in Bangkok during heavy rain. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

The Highways Department has placed its Bangkok staff on 24-hour alert for flooding of 14 main roads in the north and east of the capital and surrounding areas as it races to replace water drainage pipes.

Sarawut Songsiwilai, the deputy department chief, said persistent heavy downpours over the past few days in and around Bangkok had forced the deployment of workers, water pumps and machinery to roads susceptible to flooding.

The department is also installing wider drainage pipes along some flood-prone roads. Personnel are supervising the operation of water pumps around the clock to draw excess rain water from the roads.

On Friday morning, a storm felled a large tree that hit power poles, causing a widespread blackout in Soi Thong Lor on Sukhumvit Road.

The rain is expected to subside over the next four days before returning to cover most areas of the country from Wednesday to Friday, according to the Meteorological Department.

Showers will be heaviest in the northeastern, eastern and southern provinces, deputy director-general Songkran Aksorn reportedly said yesterday.

He said beachgoers should exercise caution and visitors planning to travel by boat from the mainland to islands off the Andaman coast should closely monitor the weather forecast.

Andaman coastal provinces from Ranong to Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi and Trang are braced for downpours until today with high tides rising to at least two metres, the agency reported.

Rain covered more than half of the country including Bangkok on Friday.

One of the worst-hit areas was Nakhon Phanom, where a four-hour downpour flooded some roads in the provincial town up to 50 centimetres.

Phangnga, Surat Thani, Ratchaburi, Chanthaburi, Tak and Bangkok were among the provinces hit hardest by heavy rain since Thursday, according to the department.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, the rain was believed to have been a factor in the death of a man at a workers' camp. Mitchai Wongkul, 42, was found dead in a tent yesterday, covered by plastic sheets that had been weighed down by water. Pol Capt Anuwat Rattanajeena, from Pho Klang police station in Muang district, said it appeared the man died of suffocation. A preliminary examination showed no signs of violence.

Despite the heavy rain, water levels in major reservoirs remained low, averaging 44% of capacity, according to data from the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute.

Only Ratchapraba dam in Surat Thani and Srinagarind dam in Kanchanaburi were filled above half their capacity, it added.

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