AYUTTHAYA, Oct 19 (TNA) – Staff of the Royal Irrigation Department are hurriedly repairing an embankment road in Ayutthaya province to protect Sena Hospital from flooding.
Prapit Chanma, director-general of the department, supervised the repair of the embankment road near the Chao Chet sluicegate after strong currents destroyed an eight-meter-long section of the road. The rupture sent powerful floodwater to areas in Sena, Bang Sai and Lat Bua Luang districts.
The director-general ordered subordinates to operate machines to quickly place gabion boxes with rock to stop the embankment failure as soon as possible. If the repair was delayed, floodwater might hit Sena Hospital.
Meanwhile, the discharge rate of the Chao Phraya barrage in Chai Nat province was reduced by 36 cubic meters per second to 2,947 cubic meters per second. Consequently floodwater slightly subsided in the business area of Sapphaya district. However, local flood levels remained deeper than one meter and about 800 households were troubled by polluted floodwater. Some low-lying areas were nearly two meters underwater and people had to commute by boat.
Officials were still unable to drain floodwater into the Chao Phraya River because the level of the river was too high. Drainage with pumps will be possible when the discharge rate at the Chao Phraya barrage was reduced to 2,700 cubic meters per second. (TNA)
