Chiang Mai floods start to ease, 62 more water pumps to be installed to speed up draining

With half of the 3.02 million cubic metres of floodwater drained from downtown Chiang Mai, provincial officials have started going out to help local residents clean up their houses in the sections that are dry.

The Irrigation Office 1 said on Wednesday that at 2pm on Tuesday, there were 3.02 million cubic metres of floodwaters in the Muang Chiang Mai municipality area, but at 9am on Wednesday about 1.51 million cubic metres of water still needed to be drained.

The office reported that the water level of the Ping River at P1 water station under the Nawarat Bridge was measured at 3.57 metres, 0.13 metres lower than the crisis level while the water was flowing through the station at the rate of 469.50 cubic metre per second.

At 7pm on Monday, the water was measured at the station at 4.65 metres and flowing at 754.25 cubic metres per second, so the flood situation was clearly improving, the office said.

Chiang Mai Governor Nirat Pongsitthithavorn said on Wednesday that the provincial administration had sought help from other agencies, including the Chiang Mai Irrigation Office, the Muang district municipality, the Local Administration Department, and the Chiang Mai Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office to find more water pumps to drain the remaining floodwater.

Nirat said 62 more water pumps have been taken on loan, including three large ones with 14-inch-diameter pipe, and the municipality had been assigned to install and operate the pumps.

He said two severely hit communities, the Viang Thong village and Pa Prao Nok, would receive priority for water draining.

At 9.25am on Wednesday, the governor issued a circular to his deputies and heads of all local government offices, telling them to go out and help clean up roads and houses where the water has receded.

The circular said water in Ping River was lower than the crisis level, but a lot of mud had been deposited on roads and in people’s houses hence the officials must go out to make Chiang Mai beautiful again as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Aroon Pinta, Chiang Mai chief disaster prevention and mitigation officer, said that six large pumps from Lampang province would arrive on Wednesday afternoon and would be installed immediately.

Officials were seen late Wednesday morning helping local residents clean up their houses and roads, while officials from Muang Chiang Mai Municipality and some hospitals were seen distributing rice and medicine to local residents.