Failed attempts to plug the breached 25-metre section of flood barrier in Tambon Wang Luang of Roi Et’s Selaphum district, which allowed water to submerge 15,000 rai of rice fields in seven sub-districts, had prompted the authorities to adjust the action plan, said district chief Suraporn Maicharoen.
The flood command centre, which has just been set up at Ban Tha Yiam, sent in gabions (cages filled with rocks, concrete or sometimes sand and soil) for use in flood control embankment and heavy machinery.
It aims to complete the Ban Than Yiam-Tha Thang Kwian flood barrier by this evening before tropical storm Son-Tinh approaches later this week, he said.
This would help close the breached section and then big sandbags and rocks would fill the gap between the rows.
Each side of the breached section would have a backhoe to swiftly lay gabions, he added.
Earlier, they had tried to plug the breached section with sandbags and gabions by piling up from one side of the breached section onto the embankment but that was too slow and the pile-up was swept away.
Meanwhile, Thai Meteorological Department chief Wanchai Sakudomchai said today that tropical storm Son-Tinh had declined to a tropical depression over the border of Laos and Vietnam with a maximum sustained wind of about 55kph. It should downgrade to active low-pressure in upper Laos later on Thursday.
He said torrential rain would hit the north and northeast so residents should take care and follow the forecast.
Wanchai also warned that the strong southwest monsoon over the Andaman Sea and the Gulf would bring heavy rain to the east and south, bringing three-metre waves on both coasts.
All ships should proceed with caution and small boats should not venture out, Wanchai said.
The east and southwest might suffer inshore surges until Sunday, July 22.
In Phetchabun’s Lom Sak district, residents in nine villages in Tambon Pak Chong, whose homes and 500 rai of farmland had been submerged earlier this week, were told to brace for further flooding. Chon Dan district received the same warning and was told to move belongings to higher ground.
