The flood situation in Phetchaburi province should return to normal within two days thanks to the integrated response to tackling the problem, the Government said.
Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday that the inundation in the province’s Muang, Ban Lad and Tha Yang districts had eased as the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) had reduced the water discharging rate to only 64 cubic metres per second into thePhetchaburi River.
He said that had been combined with 21 water pumps draining floodwater from affected areas, particularly the economic zone of Muang district.
Sansern said that eight water-pushing devices were installed in the river to accelerate the water flowing into the sea.  As a result, he said the RID believed the situation should return to normal in two days.
He said Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha had urged officials to aid flood victims and give encouragement to officials and victims to overcome the crisis.
Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Wipan Chamachote, assistant director of Phra Chulachomklao Naval Dockyard’s planning division, yesterday morning presided over the release of a caravan of trucks transporting 20 flow-thruster ships and tools and 170 Navy officers from the dockyard in Samut Prakan province to aid flood victims in Phetchaburi.
The ships will push floodwater into the Phetchaburi River and sea until the situation returns to normal.
Wipan said the ships would help drain 140,000 cubic metres of water per day, meaning all the floodwater would be pushed to the sea in less than five days.
Phetchaburi has been inundated since last Monday after the RID announced that there had been excessive rainfall in watershed areas upstream the previous week, which caused overflows of rainwater into dams, including Phetch dam.
Officials later had to release water into the Phetchaburi River, resulting in flooding in the town and overflows in some areas.