Authorities will employ all 18 planes on hand to make artificial rain for major dams as the rainy season which allows for their operation draws to a close in about a month.
Soldiers and volunteers help rebuild a wooden bridge destroyed in a flash flood in Ban Dong Pasak of Nan's Phuwiang district. Many villagers were also stranded in the severely-flooded neighbourhood. Rarinthorn Petcharoen
The operations will be carried out on a full-scale basis until October or early November or until there is not enough humidity in the air to make rain, Warawut Khantiyanan, chief of the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation, said yesterday.
The 18 aircraft will be stationed at nine rainmaking operation centres nationwide, but those stationed in the North will be central to the authorities' efforts to increase water levels in reservoirs, where water is essential to the rice belt provinces in the Chao Phraya River basin. Water levels in those dams are still low, Mr Warawut said, stressing that rainmaking is needed as a way to solve water shortages, along with other measures including building artesian wells.
Officials at the Chiang Mai-based centre have been told to make rain upstream in the Ping and Nan rivers where the Bhumibol and Sirikit dams sit, respectively, he said.
The two rivers flow into the Chao Phraya River, which runs through densely-growing paddies in the Central Region, so maintaining sufficient water levels in the reservoirs is important.
Meanwhile, the centre in Phitsanulok will oversee rainmaking operations in areas near the Sirikit and Kwai Noi Bamrung Dan dams, Mr Warawut said.
The Kwai Noi Bamrung Dan dam in Phitsanulok is expected to hold less than half of its water capacity of 769 million cubic metres by the end of the rainy season.
However, the situation at these dams may not be severe this week as a low pressure cell is bringing more rainfall in the North and upper North East, the Meteorology Department said.
Some provinces will even receive torrential rain, according to its forecast yesterday.
Villagers in Nan have borne the heavy brunt of the unsettled weather after downpours caused a strong flash flood that crashed into three villages in Phu Phiang district, damaging 32 houses, officials said. No injuries were reported in the floods.
Dong Pasak village was severely hit as the flood destroyed a wooden bridge, preventing some villagers from travelling outside their neighbourhood.