Authorities speed up draining flood from Ayutthaya rice paddies

AYUTTHAYA, June 2 (TNA) – Local authorities have expedited water drainage from paddy fields in the central province of Ayutthaya before the rice paddies will be damaged by floodwater. Worawit Boonyanate, the director of the Bang Ban operation and maintenance project in Ayutthaya said that the flood was triggered by recent rainfall in this central province. Officials are accelerating to divert accumulated floodwater from rice fields in five districts into the Noi River and the main Chao Phraya River. The water flows downstream to pass Pathum Thani province at a maximum volume of 1,500 cubic metres per second and will not impact downstream provinces, he said. Parts of the floodwater will be diverted through a canal to the Thachin River in Suphan Buri for farmers to reserve water for off-season rice cultivation. Mr Worawit said that the water drainage from rice paddies will take about 5-7 days and the water drops to 5-10 centimetres, rice will be able to survive and grow further. (TNA)