Weeds, lack of pumps hinder flow from city
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FROC official calls for urgent action in drainage effort
A shortage of pumps and canals clogged by vegetation and other obstacles is hampering the last-ditch effort to expel |flood water from Bangkok into the sea.
“Some waterways have too many water hyacinths. There are also bottlenecks north of Hok Wa Lang Canal that need to be removed to allow the water to flow faster,” Uthen Chartpinyo, head the Flood Relief Operation Centre’s committee in charge of draining flood water into the sea, said yesterday.
His survey of canals in Bangkok and downstream provinces had found problems that needed to be addressed immediately.
To speed up the current from Pathum Thani’s Canal 13 to Hok Wa Lang Canal at the border with Bangkok and finally to the Gulf of Thailand, pumps have to be borrowed from Suvarnabhumi Airport, he said.
Leaks at the junction of Lat Krabang and Saen Saeb canals need to be patched to prevent the inundation of surrounding areas.
The South Rangsit gate has to be opened wide to allow more water from Rangsit Canal 13 to enter Bangkok’s canals.
The department’s local office was earlier instructed to open the sluice gate partway, and not to its full height of 3.5 metres, to avoid swamping Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district.
“I ordered the Royal Irrigation Department officials to open the watergate at this point to its full height. If there is flooding in Lat Krabang, I will take responsibility. This point is the shortest route to propel water into the ocean,” Uthen said.
Chainarin Panpinyaporn, chief of the department’s Office 11, who is in charge of the South Rangsit gate, said the discharge of water in areas east of the capital remained slow because of “difficult terrain” – such as obstructions narrowing the canals – as well as the lack of cooperation from local residents who fear flooding.
Associate Professor Seri Suparathit, director of Rangsit University’s Centre on Climate Change and Disaster, said people in the path of the drainage operation in Bangkok would have to learn to live with flood waters for at least a month.
Eastern districts such as Min Buri and Lat Krabang would be under 80 centimetres of water, while some northern and eastern parts would be hit within five to 10 days, depending on their location, he said.
