Following His Majesty's initiative, residents of Ayutthaya - one of the hardest-hit provinces - agreed to allow the RID to divert a huge volume of water onto their own farmlands to reduce the possibility of severe flooding in the capital, he said.

Samart said HM the King's vast holdings of some 2,000 rai of land in Thung Makham Yong and Thung Phukhao Thong, Muang district's Tambon Ban Mai, thousands of local residents' farmlands had been submerged since Monday afternoon.

The move had greatly reduced a large volume of overflow to Bangkok, Samart said. Bangkok would survive the critical period, as high tide would reach its peak in the coming few days, he added.

However, Samart said the water passing through Nakhon Sawan had risen to 4,595 cubic metres per second and may increase to be as the highest statistic in 1995 which was 4,800 cubic metres per second. Whilst Chai Nat's Chao Phraya Dam had water passing through at 2,901 cubic metres per second, which Samart said the water amount was still controllable.

Ayutthaya's Governor Somchai Chumrat said the province would compensate the landowners at the actual damage instead of the announced criteria of Bt250 per rai for the flooded farmland in Thung Bang Ban.

In Angthong, residents in Muang district's Tambon Pho Sa suffered food and drinking water shortage, whilst abbot of Wat Bot Woradit in Pa Moke district urged people to deliver food to the temple's 480 orphans who now lived on instant noodles and canned fish that were running low. Following the Klong Bang Kaew earthen dam burst on Monday, the floodwater now inundated 100 metre stretch of Asia Highway.