Flood alerts as more rain forecast
PUBLISHED : 2 Sep 2024 at 15:38
The Chao Phraya dam will soon begin discharging more water as the river continues to rise, swollen by flood runoff from the northern provinces.
Thanet Soomboon, director of the Water Management and Hydrology Bureau, said on Monday that the release rate would be increased within days.
He said water from the northern floods was heading rapidly downstream into provinces in the central region.
The barrage dam in Chai Nat was releasing 1,400 cubic metres of water per second and it was planned to increase the discharge rate by about 100 m3/s over the next two days.
The dam uses the level of the river in Nakhon Sawan as an indicator to determine water management. The water was flowing through Nakhon Sawan at 1,550 m3/s, and Mr Thanet expected it to rise to 1,600 or even 1,700 m3/s within days.
Water released from the dam is normally directed into the irrigation canal network and water retention reservoirs along the Chao Phraya to at least delay flooding in the central provinces and Bangkok.
Mr Thanet was confident there would be no repeated of the disastrous flooding in 2011. The volume of water being released by the dam remained below that of 13 years ago, he said.
The Chao Phraya dam unleashed 2,700 cubic metres of water per second during the great flood of 2011.
The Office of National Water Resources and the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department have released separate alerts on possible flash floods and landslides in all regions throughout this week. Provinces on alert include Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Nong Khai, Rayong, Phuket and Surat Thani. There is also a flood warning for Bangkok.
The Meteorological Department forecast on Monday warned of widespread gusty winds and heavy rain from Tuesday to Saturday. “More rain, including some heavy rain, is likely in many places with isolated very heavy rain possible in the East and South,” it said.