Evacuations ordered in Bueng Kum district as floods approach Bangkok
As flood waters approach inner Bangkok, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) yesterday ordered evacuations in Bueng Kum district's Nuan Chan and Khlong Kum areas and reported that the Mall Bang Kapi could be submerged for four to five days if th
Sewers overflowed outside Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s home in Soi Yothinpattana 3 in Bueng Kum district, prompting officials to build a sandbag barrier and the police to keep close watch on the nearby Khlong Lamjiak, Khlong Ta-nhang and Khlong Chan.
Run-offs from the sewage also covered Rama II Road Sois 5 to 7.
Bang Kapi district chief Sin Nitithadakul said areas such as Ramkhamhaeng Sois 64, 66, 60 and 68 were flooded. He said he would ask Bueng Kum residents to not further destroy the Khlong Ta-nhang sluice gate as it would cause the mall to be submerged in four or five days, with Soi Lat Phrao 101 and the Khlong Lamjiak community being hit first. Bang Kapi authorities have readied some 20 army trucks to evacuate flood victims.
In Min Buri district, Pol Maj-General Sa-ngiam Samranrat, an official from the PM’s Secretary-General Office, said they would not lift the sluice gate by two metres as demanded by Bueng Kum residents, because he needed three or four days to inspect downstream Saen Saeb Canal. Sa-ngiam promised to provide relief bags and floating toilets to 800 families in the affected communities.
Meanwhile, the firm Team Group has warned residents in Saphan Sung, Bueng Kum, Bang Kapi, Suan Luang, Prawet as well as those on the east of Srinakarin Road, to move their belongings to higher ground and evacuate the ailing and elderly. Residents of Bang Khae, Nong Khaem, Ekkachai, Rama II, Bang Bon, Bang Khunthien areas as well as Samut Sakhon’s Krathum Baen district were also warned of flooding.
Meanwhile, Captain Suraphol Navamawat, co-ordinator of the Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC), inspected the repair works being conducted at the Bang Sue pumping station, where only four of the 10 pumps are working to drain waters into the Bang Sue Canal.
Bang Sue Canal is 20-per-cent beyond its capacity, and hence sluice gates have been opened on a trial basis to drain water through the canal running alongside Vibhavadi Road as well as the Din Daeng and Makkasan pumping stations as far as the Rama 9 Tunnel. However, since the partial opening of the metre-wide gate caused flooding in front of the Army Club, it was lowered by 30cm, an informed source said.
BMA Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra has ordered evacuation for Maneeya Ville in Bueng Kum district’s Nuan Chan sub-district, putting Nuan Chan Sois 52,54, 56, 58 and 60; Navamin Sois 50, 64 and 90; and Ram-Indra Soi 38 on flood watch.
In the Khlong Kum sub-district, residents in Soi Navamin 74 were told to evacuate. Sukhumbhand also thanked FROC for installing 45 water pumps, which he said would be helpful for draining water from the west of Bangkok to Khlong Mahachai and Tha Chin River. He said he was told that the Royal Immigration Department’s 14 broken sluice gates would be repaired by next Sunday. Asked about the volume of floods set to hit Bangkok, Sukhumbhand went silent for a bit before admitting: “I really don’t know.”