PM instructs agencies to prepare for impact of tropical storm Gaemi
Agencies have been instructed to prepare for tropical storm Gaemi, which will impact Thailand over the weekend, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Wednesday.
She said she has instructed the authorities to release water retained in dams upstream and to clean up the Bangkok drainage system. The government will help the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) and the surrounding provinces to drain water in case of heavy rain from the storm.
More pumps will be installed to help drain water more quickly.
She said Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt has been assigned to oversee traffic in Bangkok and adjacent areas to ease the heavy traffic expected after the rain.
The Weather Department has issued its eighth warning on tropical cyclone Gaemi, which as of 4am today was in the mid-South China Sea, centered about 880km east of Da Nang, Vietnam with maximum sustained winds of about 75km/hr.
The agency said the storm is expected to make landfall over central Vietnam on Friday and Saturday, and will affect on Thailand on the following days.
Meanwhile, the stronger southwest monsoon prevails over the Andaman Sea, the South and the Gulf of Thailand. These will cause torrential rain in some places of the lower North, Northeast, Central, Eastern and upper Southern regions of the country.
