Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Bangkok should prepare for some flooding as run-off from the North continues to bear down on the capital.
Yingluck also invoked the disaster prevention law which gives her full control of flood relief and prevention operations, the Bangkok Post reported. She said that it will take roughly one month for the floodwaters to drain out to sea in her weekly radio talk show this morning.
Run-off is flowing into northern Bangkok from Khlong 2 and Khlong Rangsit in Pathum Thani. Coconuts Bangkok photos of the flooding situation in the Rangsit area of Pathum Thani yesterday are here.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, Science and Technology Minister, said that all of Bangkok could be under 50cm to a meter of water for a month, according to a tweet from the Nation’s Tulsathit Taptim. It must be noted however that Plodprasop ended up with egg on his face when he caused panic in northern Bangkok byannouncing a flash flood alert that turned out to be false.
Section 31 of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act (2007) gives Prime Minister Yingluck complete control of all flood relief operations around the country, and stipulates prosecution for any officials who don’t obey the prime minister.
Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said that he would comply all orders, except for those that he found inappropriate with good reasoning, according to TAN Network. So it should be interesting to see how this pans out, with reports of increased conflict between the national government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority over flood control.
Yingluck defended the need to allow floodwaters to drain through the capital in her weekly radio address this morning, according to TAN. She said that trying to block the waters only made the problem worse and increased the strength of the overflow.
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Floodwaters in Rangsit yesterday. Photo: Coconuts Bangkok
