Korat faces severe floods as dam, rivers overflow after relentless rains

The volume of water in the Lam Phra Ploeng river basin continues to rise amid continuing rains, while the dam still has to speed up release of water to prepare for an oncoming storm which will bring more rains and hamper water management.
Water from the Lam Phra Phloeng River, which flows through Chokchai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province began to overflow the banks and flood agricultural areas. In particular, farmers' rice fields were affected widely in many subdistricts, such as Tha Lat Khao, Phlappla, Kratok, Chokchai and Dan Kwian.
At full capacity, Lam Phra Ploeng Dam can store 155 million cubic metres with approximately 10 million cubic metres of water flowing in and more to come.

The irrigation department has urged people living near the river to gather their belongings and move to a higher place.
Officials of the Phlapphla Subdistrict Administrative Organisation hurried to arrange sandbag barriers throughout the day to prevent water from flooding the Kok Wiitaya School, where water from Mun River and its tributary converge. Heavy rainfall is forecast in the area in 1-2 days and could make the situation worse.
Nakhon Ratchasima has faced the heaviest rain in the past five years with the downtown area road inundated with 50 centimetres of water on Thursday.