Collapse of the left side of the embankment of the Yom river was blamed for causing flooding in downtown Sukhothai, Mr Suthep Noipairote, director-general of Royal Irrigation Department, disclosed on Friday.
He said that the Yom river did not overflow, but the embankment on the left side of the river leaked and eventually collapsed, causing the rising river to gush out and inundated the municipal area.

He said a backhoe had been employed to fix the broken embankment and the repairs were expected to be completed by Friday after which four water pumps which have been installed by the Royal Irrigation Department would start pumping water out of the township Friday night.

Predicting more rains during September 19-22, the irrigation chief warned all provinces to be on the alert to keep monitoring levels of rivers or klongs, especially the Yom river basin.

However, he said the rains would add another 8 billion cubic metres of water in the country’s four main dams before the end of the rainy season.

Meanwhile, Mr Thongplaew Kongchan, deputy director-general of Royal Irrigation Department, said the amount of water that was flowing through Sukhothai had reduced to 504 cubic metre/second and the water level in the Yom river has dropped to about 40 cm from the top of the embankment compared to 1,048 cubic metre/second on September 15.



Embankment collapse blamed for causing flooding in Sukhothai - Thai PBS English News