About 70 families living around the reservoir of the Vajiralongkorn dam in Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi province are preparing to evacuate as the water level in the dam went up by 35 centimetres on Saturday morning.

The families in two villages in Tambon Nong Lu of Sangkhla Buri districts have been flooded by water from the dam’s reservoir for more than 15 days. Heavy downpours on Friday night caused the water level in the dam to go up, forcing the families to prepare for evacuation.

The water level in the Kwae Noi river running past Thong Pha Phum, Sai Yok and Muang district went up by 1 metre on Saturday morning after the Vajiralongkorn dam began to discharge water at the rate of 53 million cubic metres per day two days ago.

Water in the Kwai river also went up on Saturday morning, prompting Col Priti Kumpirat, commander of the 11th Mobile Development Unit to prepare a team of soldiers with flat-botomed boats and life-saving equipment to be dispatched to trouble spots where help is needed.

As of 8am on Saturday, the Vajiralongkorn dam was holding 8,109 million cubic metres of water or 91% of its full capacity.  Yesterday’s water inflow was 101 million cubic metres while the inflow was 52.24 million cu/m.