A FAMOUS temple in western Kanchanaburi province is almost completely submerged in floodwaters today (August 19, 2018) amid ongoing torrential rain and overflow from Vajiralongkorn Dam, Sanook.com reported.
People living in 80 houses near the Mon bridge, which is Thailand’s longest wooden bridge and second longest in the world, had to either move to higher ground or take shelter with relatives as they homes got flooded. However the bridge is still open for tourists to walk through with water in Song Kalia river currently 2.7 meters below the handmade footbridge.
Sadly Wat Wang Wiwekaram temple or Wat Kao, which was listed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand as one of the Unseen Thailand places to visit and drew lots of tourists, is almost completely submerged under floodwaters, which are rising at average 30 centimeters a day.
Only around 2 meters of the temple, its roof and the top of the bell tower, is above the floodwaters with the remaining 13 meters submerged.
However tourists can still visit the temple during the dry season.
Meanwhile Vajiralongkorn Dam, which can hold 8,860 million cubic meters of water, today swelled up to 7,940 million cubic meters, or 89.62% of capacity. It is discharging 43 million cubic meters of water through normal channels and 10 million cubic meters through the spillway daily, while 104.97 million cubic meters is flowing in each day.
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Top and in-text: The famous Kanchanaburi temple almost completely submerged under floodwaters today. Photo: Sanook.com
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