Bangkok Metropolitan Administration workers successfully repaired the Klong Sam Wa sluice gate yesterday afternoon, amid tight security provided by 400 police officers.
After the government order to raise the gate to 1 metre in the wake of a road blockage by angry residents, some of whom damaged the earth levee at the gate to release flood water from their communities, BMA workers repaired the damaged part, using wooden pillars, sandbags and 10 sheet plies.
BMA Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said it had to be fixed quickly or the Ram Inthra and Ramkhamhaeng areas of the capital would be affected.
Saying the decision to raise the gate had been made by a committee of the national Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC), he said the BMA would act accordingly and, if it had to be raised, then the Klong 8 and Klong 10 sluice gates should be slightly lowered.
He insisted the BMA had no dispute with the FROC. Sukhumbhand also visited Sammakorn Housing Estate, which found itself under metre-deep water after the Klong Sam Wa gate was raised.
The water level outside the sluice gate was at 1.89 metres above mean sea level, while the level inside was 1.25 metres, a source said.
First Army Region commander Lt-General Udomdetch Sitabutr in the late afternoon visited the Klong Sam Wa gate and, although expressing satisfaction about the progress made and management, said he was concerned about downstream Bang Chan Industrial Estate. It had no earth floodwall and was only protected by the sandbag barriers built by soldiers in the past two weeks.
He readied manpower to move important machinery from the estate should flood water reach factories and rise to 80 centimetres, and prepared for an evacuation if the water rose to 1 metre.
Meanwhile, about 300 police officers will continue guarding the Klong Sam Wa watergate around the clock to prevent any further destruction of the levee, or people clashing or blocking the road, said spokesman Pol Maj-General Piya Uthayo.
Police have also opened hotline 1599 for people to seek help and complain about theft or traffic being blocked, he said, adding that they would tow away any vehicles parked on expressways and overpasses and blocking traffic.
National police chief Pol General Priewpan Damapong yesterday received Bt1 million in flood aid from the Taiwan Association of Thailand. Khon Kaen Provincial Police gave 25 fibreglass boats, 200 sets of goods and 200 blankets to flood-hit areas, and Chor Heng Noodle factory donated two boats for police use in helping victims.
Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit said the Klong Sam Wa sluice-gate dispute would not spiral out of control, because people did not intend to harm one another and were merely concerned about the flooding.
He said it was necessary for them to talk to one another, and added that the prime minister had assigned him to meet with Klong Sam Wa residents.
Min Buri MP Wicharn Minchainan urged the BMA governor to talk with Klong Sam Wa residents, as no agency had explained the problems concerning the water level and direction to them.
The sluice gate's opening to 1 metre should not greatly affect those behind the gate, especially those in Bang Chan Industrial Estate, he said.
Wicharn urged the BMA to investigate the communities' alleged encroachment on canal banks, which affected water flow, especially along the Phra-ongchao, Chaiyanuchit and Premprachakorn canals.
Klong Sam Wa resident-cum-protester Sombat Samanna yesterday accused the government of trying to make residents living near the watergate scapegoats for the flood water that was spreading deeper into Bangkok.
Local residents had demanded that the height of the gate at Klong Sam Wa in the northeastern edge of the capital be opened, and the prime minister yielded on Monday afternoon after some skirmishes.
Despite this, protesters dug up a metre-wide channel next to the gate to allow more flood water to be released towards inner Bangkok's Saen Saeb Canal.
By yesterday afternoon, the police and BMA officials decided to move in to fix the gate and fill in the dug-up channel after the BMA warned that leaving Klong Sam Wa sluice gate open could eventually lead to flooding all over the rest of Bangkok.
Sombat said local residents were not convinced that the spread of flood water in eastern Bangkok was the result of their gate being raised, and claimed that water was seeping into nearby areas, including Bang Chan Industrial Estate, from elsewhere.
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