Floods in central provinces worsen, Chao Phraya Dam increases water discharge

The Kamphaeng Phet provincial administration said the Sri Mongkol Wachiranusorn Bridge across the Ping River linking Tambon Wang Kaem and Tambon Mae Lat in Klong Klung district collapsed at about 50 minutes past midnight.

It collapsed just a day after the provincial administration closed access to the 19-year-old bridge after local residents spotted that one of its pillars had been almost washed away by days of strong currents in the Ping River.

No one was injured in the incident.

In Chai Nat, irrigation officials increased the water discharge from the Chao Phraya Dam to the rate of 1,479 cubic metres per second from 1,200cm at the end of last month, as the water level in the dam was rising fast due to floodwaters flowing in from upstream provinces.

The stepped-up discharge of water resulted in water flowing to the water measuring station in Sing Buri’s Muang district at the rate of 1,388 cubic metres per second and at the water station in Nakhon Sawan’s Muang district at 1,669 cm/s.

Officials warned residents, who live along the river banks downstream from the dam, to brace themselves for possible overflows.

Meanwhile in Lampang province, a pickup truck was washed off a road by a runoff in Thoen district early on Thursday morning, but the driver escaped from the truck in time before it submerged.

Som, 40, the driver from Chiang Mai, said he was driving his pickup to deliver pumpkins to a customer in Sakhon Nakhon province at 3am when his truck was washed away from the main road in front of Wat Nong Hoi.

He said the runoff was sudden, as a result he was unable to control his pickup and it was washed off to the roadside. He managed to climbed out and escape before the pickup fell down the roadside.

After the water levels reduced, local villagers helped transfer pumpkins from the pickup to another vehicle to deliver to the customer.

While the situation has worsened in the central provinces, there was improvement in several northern provinces, including Sukhothai.

Provincial officials said water had subsided in most of the flooded areas of Sukhothai.

The provincial administration said 11,366 families in 541 villages of 67 tambon from 9 districts in Sukhothai were affected by the recent flooding.