People assured no severe flooding in Thailand's central region this year

BANGKOK, September 6 (TNA) - As several areas in the Thai North and Northeast are being hard hit by severe flooding, Permanent Secretary for Interior Wiboon Sanguanpong has assured people that the country's central region will not face a massive flooding this year, like 2011. Wiboon told journalists on Saturday that his ministry's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation is working closely with the military and provincial officials to prevent flooding and people should not, thus, be panic. Wiboon said he will propose new Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda and concerned government agencies to dredge canals and waterways and to destroy hyacinths in order to allow water to flow smoothly during the ongoing monsoon season, while also storing water for public consumption during the dry season. Wiboon’s remarks were made as the Royal Irrigation Department has asked authorities manning the Chao Phraya Dam to drain floodwater above the dam into irrigation areas, aimed at not affecting farmlands and also controling water passing the main dam to flow at the rate of about 1,100 cubic metres per second. If succeeded, the senior official pointed out, water levels at the Chao Phraya Dam in Bangkok’s adjacent Ayutthaya Province would be around 30–50 centimetres higher from the present level. However, people living along river banks and outside floodwalls have been warned to be on alert for possible flooding in their neighbourhoods. (TNA)