Royal rainmakers to help fill dam reservoirs

Royal rainmakers to help fill dam reservoirs

Rainmakers at work over Nakhon Sawan (Bangkok Post file photo)
Rainmakers at work over Nakhon Sawan (Bangkok Post file photo)

The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department has been instructed to extend cloud seeding operations to help fill up four major dams and to help watch for forest fires in the North after the rainy season ends.

Director-general Lersak Riewtrakulpaiboon said the rainmaking operations usually end in the middle of October but will this year be extended to the end of the month.

Special units will be assigned to produce rain to help fill Bhumibol, Sirikit, Pasak Jolasid and Kwae Noi Bamrungdaen dams.

Mr Lersak said the haze problem in the South has eased considerably.  Although haze from forest fires in Indonesia still covers Phuket and Songkhla provinces, the air pollution index is within safety levels.  He believed the air quality would soon return to normal.

However, since there are still some hot spots in Indonesia from which haze may again spread to hit parts of the South, the rainmaking unit in Rayong will be moved to Krabi to prepare to cope with it.

Cooperation has been sought from the air force's Wing 56 in Songkhla to carry out rainmaking operations over the province if necessary, he said.

In the North, rainmaking  aircraft will help watch for smoke from forest fires set by people illegally clearing land for crops, which are typically prevalent in the area in December and January.


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