Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt has assured the public that City Hall has prepared measures to cope with overflows from the Chao Phraya River during high tides from the end of this month to early August.
Mr Chadchart said on Wednesday that additional floodwalls along the Chao Phraya River will be constructed. Currently, there are floodwalls covering a distance of 88 kilometres across the city -- 80 kilometres were built by the city administration and the remaining 8 kilometres by the private sector.
There are more than 20 gaps in the city’s flood walls, which need to be plugged with sandbags, said the governor.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has already been allocated with a budget to plug 13 gaps, with sandbags already prepared.
There are some vulnerable areas, such as Song Wad and Talad Noi, which are prone to flooding when the tide is high, Mr Chadchart said.
The BMA will accelerate the work to plug gaps in the flood walls in areas of both Thon Buri and Bangkok, including gaps in the flood walls on land owned by the private sector.
The Royal Irrigation Department on Wednesday morning reported that the water flowing into the Chao Phraya River was 1,200 cubic meres of water per second. This rate was normal, said the governor.
He has ordered BMA officials to carefully monitor the gaps in the city’s floodwalls.
The amount of water deemed critical was 2,000 cubic metres per second, and anything above this rate would cause the Chao Phraya River to overflow the banks, said Mr Chadchart.
The BMA has now raised the height of the river embankments to 2.80-3.5 metres above mean sea level to cope with high tides, he said.
He assured the public that the BMA is well prepared to cope with flooding. It has received cooperation from the army to unclog the drainage system from Lat Phrao canal to Bang Bua canal.
The Office of National Water Resources said on Wednesday high tides from 1.90 to 2.10 metres above sea level were expected from Thursday to Monday in Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Bangkok.