Flood Warning Issued For 13 Districts Along Chao Phraya River

[webfact]

Flood Warning Issued for 13 Districts along Chao Phraya River

The Bangkok governor has issued a flood warning for 13 districts situated along the Chao Phraya River and 4 districts in the northern part of the capital, as the high tide will peak this weekend.

The Governor of Bangkok, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, has reported that the flood situation remains critical due to the high tide.

Yesterday, the water level at Chao Phraya River was measured at 2.40 meters above the sea level, the highest in recent years.

Consequently, The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration or BMA has urged communities along the river and its tributaries to keep a close eye on the situation and prepare accordingly, as the high tide will peak over the weekend.

The Bangkok governor has asked people to stay calm and prepare for the pending flood.

Sukhumbhand added that the areas that must be closely monitored are the 13 districts along the Chao Phraya River and four districts in the northern part of the capital, particularly Lat Krabang, Nong Chok, Minburi, Khlong Sam Wa, Kannayao, Bang Khen, Sai Mai, Don Muang, Chatuchak and Bang Sue districts.

The city will keep the public updated.

Moreover, the BMA has raised the levee at Siriraj Hospital from three meters above sea level to 3.5 meters, and has put up an additional 3-meter floodwall around the Grand Palace compound.

The BMA will only focus on some areas, as it says it cannot protect all 80 kilometers of the Chao Phraya riverbanks.

The Bangkok governor has also ordered cooperation from the central government's Flood Relief Operations Center to ensure efficiency in the crisis management.

Sukhumbhad says that now, the flood prevention is not as important as the water drainage effort, whereby floodwater must be diverted into appropriate areas.

At the same time, the Royal Irrigation Department will be directed to open all its floodgates and activate water pump stations to drain the floodwater from the capital as soon as possible.

So far, the authorities have been diverting the water through the eastern part of Bangkok

-- Tan Network 2011-10-26

[alexakap]

Here we go...

[pogal]

Right now I have heard that the coordination of emergency services is in complete disarray as compared with the red shirt protests when the Red Cross was coordinating it all. But because there is no SOE then its up to all the many many many individual rescue services and several government emergency services. So far we have seen incompetent and irresponsible behavior from most of them. There are so many agencies and so many rescue NGO's around and they all want to be boss, or at least not listen to another agencies bosses, and so... complete disorganization is the result.

I honestly don't know if a SOE is a good thing or not but as far as rescue coordination goes, it is essential.