Thai PM:Floods remain under control

BANGKOK, October 3 (TNA) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha affirms that his government is solving the flooding problem in some areas currently in a comprehensive manner and the overall flooding situation is under control. The prime minister told journalists on Monday that the current inundation problem is divided into two parts, one in upstream areas and the other in downstream areas. For upstream areas, the prime minister explained that inundations cannot be drained quickly because local residents fear their places will be flooded if the floodwater is diverted from currently-affected areas although the government has offered compensation. In Bangkok, the prime minister noted that the water level in the main Chao Phraya River has not exceed 2.5 billion cubic meters and the capital is, thus, safe from a feared critical flooding. The prime minister acknowledged that current floodwater is temporary, resulting from a large of amount of recent rainfalls and the city is located in a low lying area, making the floodwater unable to drain out immediately. The Royal Irrigation Department, under the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, has, in the meantime, continued reducing the volume of water released from the Chao Phraya Dam in the central Chai Nat Province to about 1,600 cubic meters per second, from almost 2,000 cubic meter per second earlier, causing the water level in downstream areas to drop by 20-30 metres. Meanwhile, Ayutthaya Governor Suchin Chaichumsak said he has submitted an official letter to the Royal Irrigation Department, requesting the department to open sluice gates and sewer drainage line to divert floodwater into some 52,000 acres of post-harvested paddy fields in Pak Hai District to help alleviate inundations in local communities along the Noi River. The move followed an earlier decision by local authorities and communities that the rice fields should be used as a water retention area to releive the current flooding situation in the province after all off-season rice had been harvested. (TNA)