The government is urging residents and local officials to take necessary precautions as floodwaters from Northern Thailand reach the central provinces, officials said on Thursday.
At least 7 people are dead and 1 person missing due to the floods. As of Thursday morning, some 197,795 households have been affected with 17 provinces inundated.
The Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention said that the next few days were “crucial” for central, low-lying provinces, and have sent warnings to the governors of Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, and Samut Prakan to take action to prevent flooding.
Residents in those provinces have also been urged to stay vigilant and listen to local officials on rising water levels and evacuation plans.
Farmlands in Ayutthaya, just an hour’s drive from Bangkok, has already been flooded with the water continuing downstream to the Gulf of Thailand.
The DDMP said that it has diverted some of the water to reservoirs within the central region but that more dam discharge upstream means that low-lying areas will still be affected.
The Meteorological Department predicts scattered rain showers throughout the country for the next few days but said that the worst of the tropical storm which exacerbated the situation last week is over.
The Prime Minister’s Office and disaster relief officials say that while the flooding situation is severe, it does not expect the situation to spiral out of control like it did in 2011. That year’s historic floods led to tens of billions of baht in damage and dozens of lives lost.