Prawit confident Bangkok won’t see massive flooding as in 2011

He said his confidence was based on successful efforts to manage water from heavy rainfall upstream and tackling drought over the past few years.

The Nation

The Nation

         

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September 1, 2022

BANGKOK – Caretaker Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan on Thursday ruled out the possibility that Bangkok would be swamped by massive flooding of the kind experienced in 2011.
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Prawit confident Bangkok won’t see massive flooding as in 2011
Prawit gave the assurance while on an inspection trip to a Chachoengsao tap water-making plant to monitor the progress of a water management project in the eastern province.

“There is concern that heavy rains this year will cause flooding as in 2011, but I affirm that won’t happen,” Prawit gave the assurance.

He explained that his confidence was based on cooperation between the Royal Irrigation Department and the Office of National Water Resources in constantly managing water from heavy rainfall upstream and tackling drought over the past few years.

Prawit was apparently referring to a grim forecast by Dr Seri Suprathit, director of Rangsit University’s Climate Change and Disaster Centre.

Seri predicted the country would be hit by 15 more storms this year, which was likely to trigger 1,200mm rainfall this month, in October and November. He warned the “belt of storms” would move down to the central provinces, and “100-year-level rains” would unavoidably cause massive flooding in Bangkok to the level experienced in 2011.

In 2011 too, Seri had warned that Bangkok would be hit by massive flooding, but the government of then prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra had dismissed the possibility, before his warning became true.

Prawit said on Thursday that his government attached importance to water resources management and had been implementing necessary measures to prevent floods and drought for the past three years.

“We have been doing this for three years and you can see that no drought has been reported,” Prawit said.

“The government is extremely worried about water-related disasters, so all government agencies were instructed to be on standby all the time to tackle any arising problems immediately.”

For Chachoengsao, Prawit said the government had been implementing short-term, middle-term and long-term plans to ensure adequate raw water for making tap water.

As part of the plans, the government had installed water gates to prevent sea water from flowing into the Bang Pakong River, Prawit added.

He was accompanied by Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin on the inspection trip, and received by Palang Pracharath Party MPs from Chachoengsao, Chonburi and Samut Prakan.

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