High tides in sea may cause flooding in Bangkok, central provinces

The Office of National Water Resources on Wednesday warned people living along three main rivers in the central basin provinces to brace for overflows from Sunday due to the impact of high tides in the sea.

Deputy spokesman of the office, Thanarote Woraratprasert, said the Chao Phraya, Thai Chin and Mae Klong rivers would likely overflow from October 13 to 24 although floodwaters from upstream provinces were flowing at a lower pace into the Chao Phraya basin since Wednesday.

Thanarote said the floodwaters from the North, coupled with high tides in the sea, could cause flooding in lower areas along the three rivers, especially those outside the flood levees.

Affected areas would be in Samut Prakan, Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, and Samut Songhkram, he added.

As of Wednesday morning, the Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat province was releasing water at the peak rate of 2,200 cubic metres per second, he added.

“This should be the highest level for now because the floodwaters from Ping and Nan rivers have stabilised and reduced,” Thanarote said.

He added that there had been no more rains to cause water levels of the Sakae Krang River in Nakhon Sawan province to rise, so the river would not add to the water levels of the Chao Phraya. The Sakae Krang flows into Chao Phraya in Uthai Thani province.

Thanarote said the office would coordinate with governors of provinces downstream from the Chao Phraya Dam to check whether their provinces had been affected by the current rate of water flow at 2,200 cubic metres per second.

He said the office had to speed up water release from the dam this week and the situation would improve soon as huge amounts of water from the North were not being added to the dam.

On Wednesday, the Thai Meteorological Department reported that the western province of Ratchaburi had received the highest amount of rains during the past 24 hours, measuring 102 millimetres while the rains in Mae Hong Son province in the North during the past 24 hours measured 77mm, Bangkok 74mm, Si Sa Ket in the Northeast 70mm and Sa Kaew in the East at 65mm.

The department predicted that Bangkok and its satellite provinces and some eastern provinces would still experience heavy rains on Wednesday due to the effect of eastward winds blowing humidity from the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand over the lower Northeast and the Central.