Chao Phraya armada planned to rush river water out to sea

A fleet of about 1,000 boats will be assembled in an attempt to speed the flow of water from the flood-swollen Chao Phraya River into the sea on Tuesday, Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Surasawadi said yesterday.
At an event held to announce the effort at Nonthaburi’s Pak Kred Pier, which was joined by 40 boats, Plodprasop said the volunteer project would triple the rate of drainage from 2 knots to 6 knots, helping to prevent floodwater from pouring into Bangkok.
He said that by pushing water down river and out to sea at a faster rate, the 1,000-strong fleet would also help to ease flooding in riverside provinces such as Sing Buri, Angthong and Ayutthaya.
Plodprasop urged more owners of large vessels to join the project, in which the government will pay for the gasoline used.
He also urged police to be more lenient about letting sand trucks move around unrestricted, because flood-affected people needed to build sandbag barriers.
Dismissing an allegation that upcountry provinces had been allowed to flood in order to spare Bangkok, Plodprasop said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had opened the Klong Saen Saeb sluice gates to allow flood water to drain through Bangkok into the Gulf of Thailand.
As floodwater could also be drained through the Tha Chin River, he said, the government was ready to negotiate with the Tha Chin Conservation Club to dig a canal to the river, similar to Samut Prakan’s Klong Lad Pho project.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday inspected the Charoenrat Water Pumping Station in Tambon Klong Dan of Samut Prakan’s Bang Bo district.
Yingluck said she instructed Samut Prakan’s governor to cooperate with the Armed Forces Development Command to dredge five canals within 10 days.
Yingluck said she was confident the BMA’s existing facilities could handle the flooding, adding that she had instructed governors of nearby provinces to get local agencies to clear hyacinth weeds blocking waterways.

Hundreds of water pumps

She said she would assess the flood situation regularly, especially mid-month when the volume of water arriving in the capital from the North is expected to increase to as-yet-undetermined level.
Some 300-400 water pumps have been placed in eastern and western districts of Bangkok and 90 boats enlisted to drain runoff water into the sea.
Royal Irrigation Department chief Chalit Damrongsak said speeding up of floodwater drainage could be organised quickly now, but would be more difficult during the high-tide period from October 13 to October 17. Officials would do their best, he said.
In regard to complaints that the government’s “1111” hotline for flood victims was inaccessible, Yingluck said she would ask the Information and Communications Technology Ministry and TOT Plc to provide more telephone lines, as there were now only 200 in service.
Later yesterday, Flood Relief Operations Command spokesman Wim Rungwattanajinda announced that victims could call for help at cell-phone signal operators’ call
centres for free, as well as the 191 hotline, so that the command could help them in a timely fashion.
He urged people to donate items such as eye drops, baby-milk
powder, flat-bottomed boats and dried and ready-to-eat food to the command, based in Don Mueang Airport’s Domestic Terminal.