AlHijjah 6, 1432, Nov 2, 2011, SPA -- Authorities on Wednesday repaired a sluice gate in northern Bangkok that had been damaged by angry residents trying to ease flooding in their own neighbourhood, dpa reported. Bangkok Governor Sukhumphand Paribatra ordered city officials and police to fill in the ditch, to prevent water from flowing into the Saen Saep Canal and threatening to flood central Bangkok. Angry residents of Klong Sam Wa district dug ditches around a canal sluice gate Monday after failing to persuade authorities to raise the gate to ease flooding in their area. The breach meant more water flowed into districts closer to central Bangkok, which has stayed dry during the past month while many parts of the country suffered the worst flooding in five decades. In response to the locals' protests, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday ordered the Klong Sam Wa sluice gate raised later, increasing the flow out of the affected area towards the city centre. Seventeen of Bangkok's 50 districts are now experiencing some level of flooding, as more than 9 billion cubic metres of water from the centre of the country descends on the capital en route to the Gulf of Thailand. Most of central Bangkok remained dry over the weekend, despite the dual threat of peak high tides pushing up the Chao Phraya River and the floodwater coming from north of the capital. Government officials had announced on Tuesday that the worst of the flood threat was over for the capital.
