Ref:bangkokpost
AYUTTHAYA: A makeshift embankment at a bridge leading into a major industrial estate collapsed yesterday, allowing floodwaters to surge in, causing damages that could run up to 18 billion baht.
OPPORTUNITY IN CRISIS: A man casts his fishing net near the reclining Buddha image at Wat Loke Yasutha temple in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district of Ayutthaya province yesterday. PHOTO: PATIPAT JANTHONGAt least five factories inside the estate had been flooded as of last night as water levels continue to rise.
The collapse occurred around 6.30pm, causing the deluge to flush into the 7,275-rai industrial estate that accommodates almost 200 factories and a few houses, said Ayutthaya deputy governor Thawi Naritsirikun yesterday.
A Honda Automobile (Thailand) factory was the first plant to be hit with overflow from Khao Mao canal following the collapse of the embankment, which was built to shield the industrial estate from being flooded.
Rescue teams were trying to drain the water in a different direction as quickly as possible, said Mr Thawi.
He estimated the incident would cost the industrial estate about 18 billion baht in losses if the situation cannot be contained and all the factories ended up heavily flooded.
Floodwater also began penetrating the inner part of Ayutthaya province, known as city island, at around 11pm on Friday through about 10 broken spots in a makeshift embankment built to prevent the city island from being flooded.
The city island - land surrounded by the Chao Phraya, Pa Sak and Lopburi rivers - is home to the province's business district and the Unesco-listed world heritage site Ayutthaya Historical Park.
A tenth of the city island's area has been inundated, Ayutthaya governor Witthaya Piewpong said yesterday.
The province administration yesterday afternoon called on residents owning small cars to immediately leave the city island for an evacuation centre near the province's government office centre.
The urgent warning came as water levels in the canals surrounding the island continued to rise, with growing damage to the bridges leading out of the area.
Rescue workers stretched cables to help people cross some heavily-flooded spots as a Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department's truck drove around the city to evacuate people from their homes.
However, many residents were still trapped inside their flooded homes while others took refuge on high structures inside the historical park.
State-run Ayutthaya Hospital, which is in the city island but had not yet been flooded, moved patients and medical equipment to higher floors.
Surachai Chokkhanchitchai, the hospital's deputy director, said the hospital has about 62 critical patients. About 15 of them had been transferred to Bangkok hospitals.
Director of the National Flood Relief Centre Pracha Promnok, also Justice Minister, yesterday instructed residents to leave city island amid fears flood water levels could rise to as high as four metres overnight.
"The flood has reached crisis level. People living in Ayutthaya's city island must immediately leave the area and take refuge at the evacuation centre. Authorities will help take care of your belongings,'' said the announcement.
Many Ayutthaya residents reportedly refused to leave their flooded homes because they were worried about their belongings.
Flood-hit communities have complained about rampant theft during the disaster.
A woman in her 40s from Phra Non village in city island said a gang of thieves had taken people's belongings in broad daylight.
"There were no police to do anything,'' she said.
Earlier in the day, Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul, said the initial estimate of total losses if the more-than 200 factories are hit was 25 billion baht.
Forty-nine factories located in the Saharatana Nakhon Industrial Estate in Nakhon Luang district were insured against disasters, said Mr Wannarat.
However, not all of the about 120 more flooded factories located outside of the industrial estate were covered for damages caused by natural disasters, he said.
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