Yom River bursts banks and floods rice farms in Phitsanulok
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The Yom River burst its banks to inundate rice fields in Phitsanulok’s Bang Rakam district on Tuesday morning, about two weeks before the Royal Irrigation Department’s plan to use the area for floodwater retention.
The department earlier urged farmers in Bang Rakam to harvest rice crops before August 15, when the department plans to start using the area for retaining some 400 million cubic metres of water.
But on Tuesday morning the Yom River, which flows from Sukhothai’s Muang district, burst its banks and inundated rice fields in tambons Tabaek Ngarm, Chumsaeng Songkram, Khui Muang, and Tha Na Ngam.
Luckily, most of the fields have been harvested.
Farmers who have not begun harvesting used bulldozers to build flood levees, while farmers who have harvested rice opened flood levees to draw water to their fields to lessen the impact on the former.
