Flood war room set to swing into action
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Representatives of numerous government agencies will start work today at the newly established Flood-Relief Operation Command in a concerted effort to help the country through one of the worst flooding crises in its recent history.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced the establishment of the command in a televised address last night.
“This is now a national effort,” she said. “We will try to ease the flooding situation before mid-October. We have to improve the situation before another storm hits and before the seawater level rises.”
To date, floods have ravaged 28 provinces and affected the lives of more than 2.69 million people. The death toll from the disaster has reached 252, and at least three people are reported missing.
While Yingluck will continue to supervise overall flood-relief operations, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok has been named director of the Flood-Relief Operation Command.
Located at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok’s Don Mueang district, the command centre was scheduled to begin operations at 8am today(Oct8).
“The command will adopt an integrative approach,” Yingluck said, adding that its work would be divided between an operations and a support unit.
Science Minister Plodprasob Surassawadee will head the operations unit, working with officials in flooded provinces, the premier said. The unit’s main duties are to deliver food and relief items, and to evacuate flood victims.
Transport Minister ACM Sukampol Suwannathat will head the second unit, which will support the operations unit by analysing situations, issuing alerts and taking charge of overall water management.
Yingluck expected all provincial authorities to adopt the same structure as the Flood-Relief Operation Command to facilitate their flood-relief work.
The command was set up in response to the rising floodwater levels, and follows authorities’ decision not to try to protect the Asia Highway from inundation. This highway is unarguably the most important route linking the Central region to the upper part of the country.
Floodwater has now covered a long stretch of the highway’s outbound lanes in Ayutthaya, which is about a one-hour drive from Bangkok.
“The flooded stretch is more than 10 kilometres long,” Sukampol said.
If officials had sought to keep the Asia Highway clear of floodwater, Bangkok would have been affected, he said.
Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra yesterday insisted that his administration was capable of managing the situation in the capital and told the Pheu Thai-led government to focus its attention elsewhere.
An informed source said the decision to stop defending the Asia Highway was also taken to protect a large number of factories in Ayutthaya.
Plodprasob said soldiers and officials had been mobilised to protect the Rojana Industrial Park from inundation. “We have to protect key areas, drain floodwater and minimise the impacts on people,” he said.
In the worst-hit spots, the floodwater is now a few metres deep. Many people have been forced to retreat to the second storeys of their homes because the first floor is flooded.
Yingluck yesterday urged people not to ignore evacuation orders when issued in their areas.
“I understand that people are worried about their houses. But at evacuation centres, they will be provided food and care,” she said.
Speaking in his capacity as the head of the 24/7 Emergency Operations Centre for Floods, Storms and Landslides, Phranai Suwannarat disclosed that the Bhumibol Dam in Tak was now releasing more than 100 million cubic metres of water each day.
“The water from the dam will reach the lower Central region in the next seven days. Overflows will thus worsen in that area,” he said.
He urged officials in provinces along the Chao Phraya River to raise the levels of and reinforce embankments.
Angthong Governor Wissawa Sasisamit said all local administrative bodies in his province now had plans in place to evacuate residents.
