City officials are taking flak over inadequate preparations before Tuesday’s torrential downpour flooded areas throughout the capital.
A day late and likely millions of baht in property damage too late, City Hall announced yesterday it is mobilizing crews to clear drains and sewers to better move water off the streets after Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha put them on blast, saying they had ample warning the storm was coming.
Prayuth subsequently took the unusual step of ordering Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra to take action to protect the capital from flooding.
READ: FLOOD! Several Bangkok locations overrun with water (PHOTOS)
Sanya Cheenimit of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration subsequently said they will implement their flood prevention plan and stressed that “all of them were working hard to contain the situation,” according to state media.
He said City Hall is midway through repairing hundreds of water pumps and will clear sewers, dredge canals and waterways in two months time.
Sukhumbhand spokesman Wasan Meewong however said flooding was “inevitable,” as Tuesday’s downpour was so intense it exceeded any ability to mitigate, at least not until it finishes installing larger drainage pipes under many roads designed to accommodate 80 milliliters of water per hour. Tuesday’s downpour reportedly saw 60 milliliters falling per hour.
There are also giant tunnels presently being bored under the city, but they’re only partially completed. For Sukhumbhand, the timing proved embarrassing as only two weeks ago he was posing for a photo-op before one of these tunnels and crowing about the city’s flood-prevention projects.
Photo: Gossip Gun
