Sukhothai swamped after Yom River bursts its banks

Officials yesterday rushed to plug a burst 200-metre section of flood barrier along the river bank near Nikorn Kasem Road with large sandbags, while workers built a one-kilometre-long double-layer flood barrier. 

They also used water pumps to drain 40-centimetre-deep floodwaters, which inundated roads around government offices, including the City Hall, prison and provincial police head office, as well as six communities with 4,200 residents. 

Sukhothai governor Piti Kaewslabsri called an urgent meeting of various agencies at 8.30am yesterday to discuss measures for draining the Muang Sukhothai Municipality as well as the Tambon Wat Koh in Sri Samrong district. 

Piti also instructed officials to deliver food, drinking water and medicines to affected residents while aiding those in need of evacuation. 

It was reported that two temporary shelters had been set up – one at Wat Krachongkharam, the other at Sukhothai Physical Education College – while the Princess Pa Foundation also set up a kitchen to cook food for flood victims.

As of 10am, the water level of the Yom River in front of City Hall had dropped to 7.09 metres from the critical level of 7.39 metres at 1 am, but several areas were still under water. 

Sukhothai disaster prevention and mitigation office chief Boonying Khumsupan said the receding water level and ongoing relief efforts were expected to bring the situation back to normal late last night.

In Phichit’s Thab Khlor district, five communities covering 205 households were under one metre of floodwater from forest runoff.

Resident Sanit Boonta said the situation was almost as bad as the severe floods of 2011 and people now feared the floodwater would stagnate for nearly a month, similar to five years ago.

Meanwhile, many areas of the Muang district in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum were inundated yesterday as canals continued to rise.

A 20-metre-long section of the upstream flood barrier in Ban Kud Suang of Tambon Ban Lao burst at 3am, swamping the Kud Kaen and Huai Sawe canals and causing flooding in Muang Chaiyaphum municipality. 

Seven schools were temporarily closed while residents in 25 communities hurriedly moved belongings to higher ground. Some areas including Kud Kaen and Noen Samor reported flooding of up to one metre deep. A shelter was set up at the entrance to Ban Kud Kaen to support 1,500 affected residents from 400 households. 

Promising to bring the flood situation back to normal in one to two days, the municipality had more than 100 tonnes of water hyacinth removed from the Huai Sawe canal to help drain floodwater faster.

Up North, a flood caused by forest runoff hit 200 homes in Tambon Mae Teep of Lampang’s Ngao district yesterday morning with some areas being under two-metre-deep water.

Government officials who monitored the flood situation around the clock in the North and Northeast cited Sukhothai as the most at-risk.

Government spokesman Major General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that thanks to the monitoring and cooperation of related agencies, each province was able to handle rainfall to a certain degree by warning residents and diverting water into canals connecting to the Yom River as well as speedily draining stagnant floodwater at various locations.