Phichit province braces for more floods as Yom River rises
Officials erected yellow flags along the banks of the Yom River in Phichit on Thursday as locals were warned of rising water levels that threaten to flood low-lying areas.
Red flags will be posted if the river is in danger of overflowing into riverside communities.
Some 300 households in the northern district of Sam Ngam are already flooded by overflows from the Yom River after a week of heavy rain.
Villagers in flood-prone areas of the lower North province are urging authorities to build a permanent river dam to eliminate the problem.
Jamrat Phosala, a resident of Sam Ngam district, said on Thursday that houses in her area are flooded every year during the rainy season. Sometimes the floodwater reaches as high as the second storey.
“Having a dam over the Yom River might help fix the problem,” she said.
Upstream in the neighbouring province of Phitsanulok, the Yom River has risen to 5.15 metres with a flow rate of 301 cubic metres per second.
Thousands of households were inundated in the province after the river burst through floodwalls in Muang district and elsewhere earlier week. The worst affected districts in Phichit are the riverside communities of Sam Ngam, Pho Prathap Chang, Bueng Narang and Bang Mun Nak.
The Yom also overflowed in neighbouring Sukhothai province, inundating around 500 households.
