Nonthaburi levees cave in as runoffs burst Chao Phraya’s banks, causing metre-high floods

The temporary levees in Nonthaburi, which were made off sandbags, could not withstand the flow of water from Chao Phraya, whose levels have been continuously rising due to runoffs from upstream provinces. Most of the flooding happened in Muang Nonthaburi Municipality at about 8pm.

Officials reported that the water level at that hour had peaked at 2.88 metres above sea level.

The official residence of the Nonthaburi governor was among the areas inundated after the Chao Phraya overflowed.

The gushing water inundated the lawn in front of the house and also flooded the garage. Municipal officials rushed to fix the levees and drain the floodwater. They took about half an hour to drain the water.

The sandbag levee in front of the Prison Museum also caved in, causing water to gush in and flood Nonthaburi 1 Road in front of the Corrections Department where the water was about 30 to 50 centimetres high.

Municipality officials and Corrections officials fixed the levee and drained the floodwaters shortly.

Residents of the Buri Rangsan housing estate in Tambon Suan Yai and the Nakhon In Temple community also said their areas were flooded after the levees were breached. The roads in the housing estate were about 70 to 100 centimetres under water. The floodwaters then spread to the Phraram 5 intersection, causing inundation about 30 to 50cm deep.

Meanwhile, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) confirmed on Monday that runoffs from upstream provinces had reached the central provinces.

The GISTDA released satellite images that showed many provinces are being flooded. It said a total of 1.948 million rai (311,000 hectares) of land had been flooded so far, breaking down to:

- Nakhon Sawan, 455,022 rai (72,803h)

- Phichit, 281,349 rai (45,015h)

- Ayutthaya, 253,630 rai (40,581h)

- Sukhothai, 180,187 rai (28,830h)

- Suphanburi, 174,441 rai (27,910h)

- Lopburi, 92,737 rai (14,838h)

- Phetchabun, 64,036 rai (10,245h)

- Kamphaeng Phet, 57,428 rai (9,188h)

- Chainat, 40,738 rai (6,518h)

- Uthai Thani, 40,259 rai (6,441h)

- Saraburi, 39,956 rai (6,393h)

- Ang Thong, 39,164 rai (6,266h)

- Singburi, 28,869 rai (4,619h)

- Chaiyaphum, 11,417 rai (1,826h)

- Nakhon Nayok, 6,452 rai (1,032h)

- Prachinburi, 2,197 rai (351h)

The GISTDA said runoffs from the North are gradually flowing through Ayutthaya to Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and Bangkok provinces and running into the sea while the runoff in Chi River in Chaiyaphum province is flowing into Mool River and joining the Mekong River in Ubon Ratchathani province.