Floods engulf Ayutthaya and central Thailand

10 Oct 2011

The banks of the central Thai Chao Phraya River have been breached and adjacent provinces inundated by flood waters. At Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok, the inner city has been flooded and patients at the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Hospital have had to be evacuated.

City residents and workers tried to shore up river banks and dykes to protect the historic inner city area and the nearby Rojana Industrial Park, but their efforts were in vain as stronger than expected torrents flowed through them.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the army barracks in nearby Saraburi would be opened up to provide interim shelter for evacuees. She also asked private companies to contact provincial authorities if they had premises that could be used to temporarily house evacuees.

Half of the Ayutthaya hospital's 600 patients have been moved to Ayutthaya’s city hall and the seriously ill were transported by helicopter to Bangkok. As the waters were rising around the city hall yesterday, it seemed that this haven might be threatened.

The Thai government says that it has instructed authorities in 10 central provinces to prepare for the emergency evacuation of districts that have either been flooded or are prone to it. In Nakon Sawan, flood protection embankments have broken and the central business district and markets are currently under water.

Heavier than usual monsoon rains have swamped Thailand over the past two months and governmental organisations say that more than 250 people have so far lost their lives in the resultant floods. The flood waters are run-off from the northern regions of the country and have been exacerbated by additional heavy rainfall in the central provinces.

Tags: Floods Ayutthaya Thailand