Thailand eyes developing storms as flooding continues

As floodwaters persist in areas of northern and central Thailand and have started to hit low-lying areas in the capital, officials are looking warily ahead to developing storms later this month

BANGKOK -- As floodwaters persisted in areas of northern and central Thailand and have started to hit low-lying areas in the capital, officials were looking warily ahead Tuesday to developing storms later this month, but were optimistic the devastation of a decade ago would not be repeated.

The Royal Irrigation Department was forced this week to start releasing water from the Pasak Jolasid Dam after it reached capacity, dumping more water into a major artery that flows into the Chao Phraya River, which snakes through Bangkok before it reaches the sea.

At the moment, experts say there doesn’t seem to be any danger of the widespread flooding that hit Bangkok in 2011, though the additional water and higher tides at the end of the week will continue to affect particularly prone riverside areas.

“What we expect is that if they don’t have any more heavy rain in the coming week, we should be safe,” said Nattapon Nattasomboon, director general of Thailand’s Meteorological Department.