The risk of major flooding has spurred officials to repair an eroded embankment in an Ayutthaya industrial area.
A Royal Irrigation Department (RID) spokesman said Tuesday that several sections of the Ban Krod embankment, the main flood wall of the area, were damaged and could collapse under pressure of the Chao Phraya River. The 10-kilometre-long embankment is in Bang Pa-in district, and serves as a road. Failure to repair it could lead to flooding that will reach the city business centre and industrial estates, he said.
Montree Pitinanont, director of the Royal Irrigation Department's Nakhon Luang Operation and Maintenance Project in Ayutthaya, said he has proposed for a budget from the RID for the repairs. It was unlikely the embankment will be strong enough to hold back water levels once the river flows downstream because of the large volume of water being released from the Chao Phraya dam.
The flood wall stretches from Khlong Suan Phlu sluice gate in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district to Ban Wa sluice gate in Bang Pa-in district, where the damage is worst. If the river overflows, water will reach the western side of the embankment and run through it, Mr Montree said. "That will be a disaster, for the embankment road was designed to protect new economic and urban zones in the province adjacent to Rojana Road, the Asian Highway and the provincial government complex. These areas have no flood walls of their own," he said.
From the embankment road, water could flow through Ban Krod and Pho canals to the Rojana Industrial Park and the Hitech Industrial Estate Authority, but the industrial estates already have their own flood walls. Water levels upstream hit 16.65 metres Tuesday, while the level downstream was 14.3 metres.
Meanwhile, Thai Agriculturist Association president Wichian Phuanglamjieak said farmers in Ayutthaya were willing to allow water to be diverted into their farmland to alleviate flooding in the province.