Nonthaburi residents demand action
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Some 300 Nonthaburi residents yesterday demonstrated outside city hall for immediate solutions to the stillhigh floodwaters paralysing their province for months.
The rally began before noon but the protestors later dismissed an provisional promise given by a deputy government official, saying that they believed he was not authorised to press for their demands.
The group wanted authorities to halt flood prevention work on Route 340 and use it as a channel to drain floodwaters out to estuaries, saying Rama II Road to the South was still passable.
The group, representing residents in the three heavilyflooded districts of Bang Bua Thong, Bang Kruay and Sai Noi, later blocked Rattanathibet Road, causing heavy traffic congestion in the province.
In the late evening, the road was jammed down to Khae Rai Intersection and up to Nang Klao Bridge.
The protestors later met with Governor Wichean Phutthiwinyoo, who promised to push for six more pumps on Maha Sawat Canal to expel more water westward out of the province.
They dispersed but vowed to converge again tomorrow if floodwaters did not recede to a satisfactory level.
The residents also threatened to open all Maha Sawat floodgates themselves if their three other conditions were not met – repair of Bang Bua Thaong barriers, no floodwater in the three districts after December 1, and additional pay on top of the Bt5,000perhousehold compensation granted by the government.
Residents in Bangkok’s Don Muang district also gathered at the Sri Saman expressway entrance to submit three demands to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration including to open the floodgates in front of Thewa Sunthorn Temple in drain the water from Don Mueang Airport.
The two others were to install 30 more pumps to discharge water from Lak Hok Canal to Ban Mai Canal and study the possibility of opening a section of the big bag barrier in the Rangsit area, along with additional payments.
Another Big Cleaning Day was held for a stretch of Charan Sanitwong Road in Bangkok's Bang Phlat district with thousands of residents volunteering. About 1,700 tonnes of garbage were collected from flooded sois on both sides but 1,000 tonnes remained, as well as one million empty sandbags awaiting disposal.
Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who joined the event, said the BMA could not comply with a recent request from Nonthaburi authorities to lower floodgates along a sixkilometre section of the boundary between the province and Bangkok.
That would result in other waterways overflowing and letting 7.5 million more cubic metres to flow into Bangkok, which might leave the Thon Buri side underwater for much longer, he said.
Pongsapat Pongcharoen, spokesman of the government’s Flood Relief Operations Centre, said the idea of giving more money, on top of the Bt5,000 blanket grant, to flood victims suffering more severely – for example staying submerged longer than new victims – could be possibly tabled soon.
