SOME AREAS DRY, OTHERS FLOODED IN
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More than 1,400 villages in seven provinces have been hit by drought, while authorities continue to struggle with floods in other areas.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD) has already declared 1,436 villages in Kamphaeng Phet, Lamphun, Loei, Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Phetchaburi and Sukhothai as drought-hit zones.
DPMD director general Wiboon Sanguanpong said yesterday that help could be sought via the 1784 hotline round the clock.
Despite drought conditions in some villages, the Chao Phraya River is overflowing in Ayutthaya’s Sena district, while the volume of water moving past the Nakhon Sawan monitoring station was at 1,200 cubic metres per second yesterday. During the dry season, only about 700 cubic metres per second passes through this spot every year.
Chart Thai Pattana MP Chada Thaiset, who chairs the House committee on agriculture and cooperatives, yesterday expressed concern that these might be signs of another big flood.
Last year, Thailand was hit badly by one of the worst floods in decades, with hundreds of people being killed, seven industrial estates submerged and millions of houses being inundated. “I am worried the Royal Irrigation Department will not be able to control the situation this year,” Chada said.
The department’s deputy director-general Suthep Noipairote yesterday spoke to the House panel on behalf of the department’s director-general Chalit Damrongsak.
Suthep said his department was confident it would be able to control the situation, although he calculated that just 13 of the 33 major dams were at a satisfactory level.
Royol Jitdon – who sits on the government-appointed Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management – said about 713 million cubic metres of water was flowing into the dams between January 1 and February 7, compared to just 270 million cubic metres in the same period last year.
“The situation is very similar to what happened in 2008. Therefore, authorities must urgently drain the water out into the sea,” Royol said.
According to Water Resources Department deputy director-general Chaiporn Siripornsomboon, up to 32 economic zones and cities faced flooding because they were located in low-lying areas.
Chaiporn said many efficient water-management projects would be needed to protect these areas.
In response to the government’s move to set up a single-command authority to handle water issues, Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that he still did not see how the new agency would be able to act quickly
