Water from the test floods rice field in Ayutthaya
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More than 1,000 rai of paddy field in this 'rice bowl' province of Ayutthaya was flooded Wednesday as the water level rose one metre higher than the Chao Phraya river, possibly as a result of the government's water drainage test starting today.
Thai News Agency reported the abrupt flooding was apparently a result of the government’s three-day drainage tests for western and eastern Bangkok which started Wednesday.
Suparerk Klankla, an official of Ayutthaya’s Bangpa-in district, said farmers had to urgently harvest paddy in their flooded rice fields, or it would be severely damaged.
It was reported that water was released into the Rapipat irrigation canal from the Rama VI Dam.
The Rapipat canal on the eastern side of the river is a pass-through for water from the North to Bangkok. Water level in the canal was reportedly higher than usual Wednesday.
Water in the Bangpa-in swamp could not be drained, consequently it overflowed into nearby farmers’ paddy fields, the local government civil servant said.
Sixty-year-old Manee Ruenbutr, who owns more than 30 rai of double-crop paddy field, said the flood was without warning, and affected many farmers in the area.
