The flooding situation in the Chao Phraya River basin is forecast to remain critical for at least the next 10 days, due to high tides. This is despite the fact that the Royal Irrigation Department has gradually decreased the rate of water being discharged from the reservoirs of major dams and through the Chao Phraya Dam in Chainat province.
Chavalit Chanthararat, a water expert at Team Group, said that high tides, which are predicted from November 19th-29th, will obstruct the flow of water from rivers and catchment areas in Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya and Suphan Buri into the Gulf of Thailand.
He said that flood levels on both sides of the Chao Phraya River in Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and Bangkok will, however, steadily drop and return to normal after November 28th, whereas flooding in Sing Buri, Ang Thong and Ayutthaya is expected to ease and return to normal after December 7th.
Paitoon Kengkarnchang, deputy secretary-general of the Office of National Water Resources, said that the rate of water discharge through the Bhumibol Dam in Tak province into the central plains has been reduced from 55 million cubic metres per day to 45 million today.
Meanwhile, the rate of discharge through the Chao Phraya Dam in Chainat province is being reduced from 2,800m3/s to between 2,700 and 2,400m3/s by this Thursday.
Floodwater in Ban Mai sub-district, in Muang district of Ayutthaya, which has been submerged for three months now, saw a 6cm reduction yesterday, but the people there are still hesitant to move their valuable belongings back home, claiming that they have experienced repeated flooding in the past several months.
In Bang Rakam district of Phitsanuloke, which has been inundated for months, it is reported that floodwater rose yesterday, due to runoffs from Sukhothai province.
