Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered all agencies to prepare for heavier rain from 5 October, with the South expected to be hit hardest.
Speaking after a disaster command meeting on 2 October, Anutin said the situation had improved with less rain, but warned rainfall would build from 5 October. He told agencies to stock food and medicine and to make evacuation shelters liveable, with proper bedding, meals and above all clean toilets.
Asked if the southern rain would be worse than last year, he said Meteorological Department forecasts showed red and orange warning areas, but these were only predictions. “We have to prepare as much as we can,” he said.
The department expects more rain across the Northeast and western regions on 5 to 7 October. From 11 to 14 October, heavy, prolonged rain of about 100 millimetres is forecast for the Central region from Nakhon Sawan southwards.
Paiboon Kengkarnchang of the Office of the National Water Resources said the Chao Phraya Dam’s discharge is being held at 2,500 cubic metres per second, which can be sustained for five to six days to make room for the October rain. He said the situation differs from 2011, as the main dams still have space.
In Bangkok, Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said four high-speed pumping pipes in Lat Krabang should start around noon once about 100 metres of levee is finished. Rain on 5 to 8 October is expected to come in one-day bursts, not prolonged spells.
In Chai Nat, a floodwall on the Chao Phraya River broke overnight, flooding more than 500 households in Sapphaya district. Water in low-lying areas reached 80 to 160 centimetres.
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