RID ordered to prepare for flooding in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Aug 26 (TNA) -- Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya has ordered the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) to lay measures and prepare for flooding in Bangkok and its neighbouring provinces. Gen Chatchai’s order is issued after severe flooding has hit Thailand’s former capital of Ayutthaya province, near Bangkok. The minister said he had ordered the RID to manage water in the Chao Phraya River during the current monsoon season with proper care to prevent flooding in low-lying areas, especially Bangkok and neighbouring provinces. Presently, floodwater from the North flows downward, passing the Chao Phraya Dam at the speed of 1,498 cubic metres per second. Provincial governors have been instructed that floodwater would be released at the maximum of 1,500 cubic metres per second only in order not to affect rice farms. Six districts in Ayutthaya province are now under floodwater due to heavy rainfalls in the area while water overflowed river banks. In an effort to prevent water from running to Bangkok, Gen Chatchai has ordered workers to dredge a canal from one of the six districts in Ayutthaya to enable water to run to the Chao Phraya River and then to the Gulf of Thailand. (TNA)