Bangkok, Navy work together to prevent flood
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has asked the Royal Thai Navy to provide a fleet of 12 boats to help push water from the Chao Phraya River into the sea to prepare for possible flood.
“The move will help prevent flood in the Chao Phraya basin as the Royal Irrigation Department has increased the draining rate of Chao Phraya and Pasak Jolasid dams to prepare for water mass flowing from the North,” said Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang on Thursday. “Furthermore, the storm surge that is expected to occur during October 7-10 will prevent the flowing of water from Chao Phraya River to the Gulf of Thailand, so we need the boats to speed up the flow.”
Aswin added that the Naval Dockyard Department has agreed to provided 12 boats, each is capable of pushing 30,000 to 150,000 cubic meters of water per day. The boats will push the water from Khlong Lad Pho floodgate in Samut Prakan province to the Gulf for the distance of 600 meters during low tide.
“The boats will also help prevent flood in areas outside the embankment of Chao Phraya River, and will continue pushing water until the situation returns to normal,” added the governor.
The Khlong Lad Pho floodgate was built in 2002 to shorten the Chao Phraya River’s flowing distance to Gulf of Thailand from 18 kilometers to only 600 meters and help prevent flood in the areas.
