Capital, Central region 'safe from flooding'

“We found that the accumulated amount of run-off from agricultural land is much smaller than the accumulated amount in 2011, when the capital and other provinces in the central region were severely affected by massive floods,” RID deputy director-general Suthep Noipairoj said yesterday.

He said this year’s accumulated volume of run-off water was measured at about 300 million cubic metres, while the accumulated volume in 2011 was measured at 20 billion cubic metres.

There were also no risk factors to suggest that massive flooding would occur in the Central region and Bangkok this year. Dams such as Bhumibol, Sirikit and Khwae Noi in the North had not needed to discharge massive amounts of water this year, as they had in 2011. There were also plenty of water-retention areas that could hold run-off water and prevent flooding in the capital and other major cities, Suthep added. 

However, the department is keeping a close eye on the emerging tropical depression from Vietnam, which could affect several provinces in the Northeast and eastern region – in particular, Ubon Ratchatani, Si Sa Ket, Surin and Prachin Buri – as these provinces had already been affected by severe flooding. 

Suthep said he was particularly concerned about the situation in Prachin Buri as the amount of water in the Pasak Chonlasit Dam was nearly at its limit and would need to be discharged before the arrival of the tropical depression.