Ayutthaya man cries for help as flooding hits some 6,000 households
Flooding has hit five districts in Ayutthaya province
A pensioner in Ayutthaya on Tuesday urged the government to deal with the chronic flooding that has hit the province in central Thailand since 2022.
Pornsak Chombu-nga, 71, a former school headmaster in Ayutthaya’s Bang Ban district, told The Nation that floodwater that inundated his house this year was around 1.5 metres high, or about 30 centimetres higher than the record during the Great Flood of 2011.
He said that after the flood in 2011, he raised the roadway leading to his house by 1.5 metres, and raised the house’s ground floor level by 2 metres. However, the effort that cost him nearly 4 million baht has proved to be futile, as floodwater still managed to enter his house.
“Everything on the ground floor must be moved to higher places, around an additional metre, to be safe from flooding,” he said.
The senior educator added that he has not brought some of the furniture down since 2022, as moving it repeatedly is too troublesome.
Pornsak wants the government and relevant agencies to tackle the flood problems in the long term, which should be better than spending money every year on rehabilitating locals and fixing damaged infrastructure.
On Monday, Ayutthaya Governor Niwat Rungsakorn said five districts, 52 sub-districts and 223 villages in the province have been hit with flooding, with about 6,000 households affected.
The five inundated districts are Bang Ban, Phak Hai, Bang Sai, Sena and Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya.
He said the floodwater has risen from 10-20cm after Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat province increased its water discharge rate to 1,500 cubic metres per second last week.
Several areas in the five districts have reported flooding from 50-60 centimetres since last week, while communities near rivers and canals have reported higher water levels of up to 1.5 metres.
The governor said disaster-prevention officials have been prioritising diverting water from business areas in Sena district, namely the Sena and Ban Paen markets, to minimise damage to the province’s economy.
“A 2-metre-high floodwall and a large temporary reservoir have been constructed to prevent the Noi River from overflowing and flooding the markets,” he said. “Officials have also been surveying damage to surrounding communities and providing updates on the flood situation to the public.”
