Deluge nears inner Bangkok

The Nation



Governor keeps a brave face as more zones, roads swamped in capital

Flood water is now closing in on Bangkok’s inner zone, the mostprotected area, since about 16,000 million cubic metres of water started ravaging the Chao Phraya basin a few months ago.

Flooding has showed no signs of easing in the capital, after swamping many of Bangkok's districts and submerging dozens of roads.

t press time, runoff water from the upper part of the country had already submerged the Lat Phrao intersection, forcing the closure of the CentralPlaza shopping complex in Lat Phrao. Four subdistricts in Bangkok's Chatuchak district have already been declared "evacuation zones".

"We are closely monitoring the situation," Sukhumbhand said yesterday.

Asked whether flood water was about to swamp the heart of the capital, the city governor said, "It depends on whether more water will be entering Bangkok."

Authorities are now putting up a row of giant sandbags in southern Pathum Thani so as to reduce the volume of runoff water flowing into the capital. If the runoff is not too high, the capital's waterdrainage system would have a chance of defending the inner zone from flooding.

Sukhumbhand said concerned agencies were now assessing the situation on a daily basis.

"If there's no water coming in, the flood water from Bangkok's inundated districts will subside in one month," he said.

He admitted that the floodwater level, as of press time yesterday, was rising:

nIn Bang Khen district, the water level rose by between 20 and 50 centimetres;

nIn Chatuchak district, the water level increased by 20 centimetres;

nIn Lak Si district, the water level rose by between 30 and 120 centimetres, and a crocodile was sighted;

nIn Klong Sam Wa district, the water level jumped by between 60 and 90 centimetres;

nIn Min Buri district, the water level rose by 60 and 90 centimetres.

nIn Lat Phrao district, the water level in Lat Phrao Canal went up by five centimetres and more road areas were submerged.

Bangkok Metro Public Company Limited, which runs the capital's subway system, has closed some of the entrances/exits at some of its affected stations. The number of passengers to the affected stations such as Phaholyothin Station has also dropped.

Surging flood waters had forced the government Flood Relief Operations Centre to abandon its base at Don Mueang Airport on October 29 and move into the Energy Complex on the same road. However, water levels have been going up in front of the Energy Complex, too.

Transport Company Limited, which has operated interprovincial bus services, is now preparing a plan to evacuate all buses from the Morchit 2 Bus Terminal within one hour if flood water reaches its compound.

The terminal is located on Kamphaeng Phet Road in Chatuchak district.

"We have seen water brimming out of sewerage drains," the company's managing director, Wuttichart Kalayanamit, said.

He said his company might relocate the fleet of buses to Pratunam Tha PhraIn in Pathum Thani, the Suvarnabhumi Airport, or a location in Chon Buri and operate the services from there.

The raging flood in the capital is the worst in decades.

In Bangkok's eastern zone, runoff water from the upper part of the country has already reached the Fashion Island shopping complex in Khan Na Yao district.

"Fashion Island will suspend its service from Saturday [today]," its promotion manager Samaporn Kamchai announced yesterday.

He said the interior of the shopping complex remained dry but the closure was announced because flood water would make it hard for shoppers and staff members to reach the mall.

In western Bangkok, flood water is heading towards Siam University and the Tha Phra intersection.