More of the embankment along the Yom River in Sawankhalok, Si Samrong and Mueang districts of Sukhothai province has given way, causing widespread flooding today.
About 300 households to the east of the river in Sawankhalok district are flooded by overflows, after the strong current punched a 10-metre hole in the embankment. The electricity supply to numerous households has been cut off since last Tuesday night.
A concrete embankment in Tha Thong sub-district has also partially collapsed, leaving a gaping hole of about 20 metres, allowing water from the swollen river to flood a community of more than 100 households. A temple is being used as a temporary shelter for evacuees.
An emergency relief centre was set up on Highway 1201 to coordinate the supply of food and drinking water to flood victims.
Irrigation officials have diverted excess water from the Mem Canal into a water retention area in Thung Bang Rakham, to ease the pressure in the Yom River, before the Ping, Wang and Nan rivers confluence into the Chao Phraya River in Nakhon Sawan province.
Low-lying Thung Bang Rakham has been used as water retention area, under the “Bang Rakham Model” for flood management. It covers about 42,400 hectares of mostly rice fields in Phrom Phiram, Bang Rakham and Mueang districts of Phitsanuloke and Kong Krailat district of Sukhothai.
According to Kulthorn Rattanaseri, chief of the Yom-Nan irrigation and maintenance project, more than 6,560 hectares in Thung Bang Rakham are now inundated, after water was diverted into the retention area on Monday, following completion of the rice harvest. He expects the entire area to be fully flooded within a month.
To compensate the farmers for the loss of their farm land until December, when cultivation of the second rice crop is due to commence, five million silver barb fry (Barbonymus gonionotus) were released into the flooded water retention area, so farmers can catch the fish for consumption or sale.
