Thailand’s Livestock Development Department has sent a team of veterinarians to the Pa (Auntie) Malee shelter in Lam Luk Ka district of Pathum Thani province to take care of and evacuate 460 dogs and 30 cats to an animal welfare centre for temporary shelter.

The department’s director-general, Sorravis Thaneto, said that the animal shelter is flooded and the occupants need to be evacuated for their safety.

About 500kgs of dog and cat food and medicines were also provided to the caretakers of the animals, as well as relief kits for the shelter’s staff.

Pathum Thani is being hard hit by flooding from the Chao Phraya River and Rangsit Prayoonsak canal overflows. Large areas and many roads in the province remain under water today (Friday), making travel by road extremely difficult.

Meanwhile, Rangsit University, located in Lak Hok sub-district of Muang district of Pathum Thani, has been ordered closed until September 16th, after the area around the university became heavily flooded.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt inspected the water situation in the Prem Prachakon canal in Bangkok’s Don Mueang district today and ordered officials to accelerate their efforts to drain water out of the flooded areas in the district.

He admitted, however, that the draining of water is proceeding slowly, due to the high level of water in the Prem Prachakoncanal. He also expressed concern over the water situation in the Lat Phrao and Prawet canals, hoping that there will be no more heavy rain in the coming days.

The governor did offer an assurance that the capital and its suburbs will not face heavy flooding similar to that which occurred in 2011.

He said that, when he was an ordinary citizen of Bangkok, he was only concerned with his own house “but, as a governor now, I am concerned with all the people in the city and will try to solve the flood problem as quickly as possible.”