– Pol. Lt. Col. Prapda Suksoontri and Pol. Maj. Watcharaphanya Saentui delivered cooked food, drinks, and supply bags in the Bang Khla district of Chachoengsao, at 1:00 p.m. on October 11th.
– Officers also walked flooded communities to hand out necessities.
– A drone truck is being used to drop supplies where the water is too deep, to search at night with a thermal camera, and to broadcast warnings.
– Bang Khla has been under water for days. Some rural roads are closed at 40 to 80 centimetres, and Wat Pak Nam Jolo is surrounded by water.
Bang Khla: Tourist police from the Pattaya-area command delivered food and supplies to hard hit flooded communities in Bang Khla on Sunday, and are using drones to reach houses their trucks cannot.
Pol. Lt. Col. Prapda Suksoontri, an investigator with Tourist Police Sub-Division 4, Division 2, Bureau 1, and Pol. Maj. Watcharaphanya Saentui of Sub-Division 3 went into the district at 1:00 p.m. on October 11th. They handed over ready-to-eat meals, drinks, and bags of necessities, then split teams to survey communities and give out more supplies. The bureau said the goal was to ease the hardship and show a presence.
The same unit brought a drone-support truck. The bureau listed three jobs for it: carry supplies into streets too deep to walk, search at night with a thermal camera for people who may need help, and broadcast warnings and instructions over the flood. It did not say how many drops had been made or name the villages reached.
Bang Khla has been one of the harder-hit districts in Chachoengsao as water from upstream has pooled across the Bang Pakong plain. On October 8th, reporters found Wat Pak Nam Jolo in Pak Nam subdistrict ringed by floodwater, with shops still open and residents moving by boat or wading. The Royal Irrigation Department has put about 40 water-pushers in the district and at the Bang Pakong bridge to force the flow downstream. The Department of Rural Roads listed 10 affected routes in the province on October 11th, including Chachoengsao Rural Road 4023 through Bang Khla at 40 to 80 centimetres and closed to traffic, and 4049 at 80 centimetres and also closed.
Pattaya tourist police have been in the province before during this flood. On October 1st, Sub-Division 4 answered 1155 calls from foreigners in Phanom Sarakham and delivered water, medicine, and dry food, using boats and drones where vehicles could not pass.
The Thai Meteorological Department’s Warning No. 9, in force from 5:00 a.m. on October 11th, still has the East, including Chachoengsao, under a heavy-rain risk for the day.
Photo credit Pattaya Tourist Police