Two more Thai industrial sites at risk of flooding

BANGKOK, November 8 (TNA) - Two more major industrial sites in the outskirts of Bangkok, the Bang Chan and the Lat Krabang Industrial Estates, are now at risk of flooding, as run-offs have kept expanding to more areas. Commanding General of the First Army Area Command Lieutenant General Udomdej Sitabutr, who has joined the government's relief operations in several flood-hit areas, told reporters on Tuesday that the Bang Chan Industrial Estate appears to be now most at risk of flooding, as there have been no strong floodwalls around the so-called "food production" industrial site and floodwater in front of the estate has been rising overnight. Lieutenant General Udomdej said that manufacturing plants inside the Bang Chan Industrial Estate have erected their own sandbag dykes to prevent approaching floods and about five of them have temporarily closed. The first army area commander assessed, however, that both the Bang Chan and the Lat Krabang Industrial Estates might be safe if there was no influx of a large amount of runoffs and effective water management was in good place, insisting that military officers have been stationed to protect and to fortify floodwalls in several areas. The regional army commander, meanwhile, presided over a ceremony to receive relief packs from donors, including the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (NESAC), the Ministry of Public Health and King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, to be handed out to people in flood-stricken areas and then visited mobile kitchens of Charoen Pokphan Foods Public Company Limited, Thailand's leading agro-industrial conglomerate, where ready-to-eat food has been prepared for flood victims in Bangkok and bordering Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani Province at 8,000 packs a day. (TNA)