Most areas of Bangkok can expect more heavy rain from this afternoon, city governor Pol Gen Aswin Kwanmuang warned on Wednesday.
According to the governor’s Facebook posting, the Thai Meteorological Department forecasts heavy rain in 60% of Bangkok and surrounding provinces from the afternoon into the evening.
City Hall officials were keeping an eye on the situation and people should follow the weather updates and make careful travel plans, he said.
Any flooding problems can be reported to Hotline 1555 or tel 02-248-5115 for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) flood prevention and mitigation centre, the governor said.
Meanwhile, the navy has deployed 12 propellor-pump boats and their 86 crew members to help City Hall speed up the flow rate of Bangkok’s waterways, including Khlong Lat Phrao.
The boats were deployed on Tuesday night at the Naval Dockyard Department in Phra Samut Chedi district of Samut Prakan.
RAdm Watkit Yoksawat, deputy chief of Phra Chulachomklao Naval Dockyard, said each boat is capable of propelling 72 cubic metres of water per second as well as pumping 24 cu m of water per minute. The navy had 200 propellor-pump boats which can be deployed to areas in need.
With these vessels, the capital would have the capacity to propel water at 140,660 cu m per day, he said.
Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai Sarikulya and Royal Irrigation Department (RID) chief Somkiat Prajamwong and his deputy Thongplew Kongjun surveyed the flood situation from Ayutthaya to Nakhon Sawan by helicopter on Wednesday. They later travelled to Sapphaya district of Chai Nat to hand relief bags to the flood-stricken villagers.
Gen Chatchai said the ministry followed its water management plan by expediting the discharge from dams holding a lot of water and diverting water to canals and fields serving as water retention areas.
Mr Thongplew said the volume of water in the Chao Phraya River this year was still much less than during the devastating flood in 2011. The river’s high embankments should prevent it overflowing, he said. However, areas outside the floodwalls remained at risk of flooding.
He insisted water from upstream would not cause flooding in Bangkok and its vicinity.
However, special attention was needed during this period, with the monsoon trough having moved to the lower Central Plains, upper South and the East, he said. Bangkok would face further heavy rain through to Monday. After this, the rains should ease.