The excavators dredged the canal at the Phra Aram Bridge located near the Chartered Bank Intersection, at the eastern end of the Old Town area.
Present to oversee the works was Phuket City Deputy Mayor Supachok Laongpetch along with Anat Noppakao, Chief of the Phuket City Municipality’s Public Health and Environment Division.
One of the excavators remained on the ground beside the canal as it dredged the canal, while the other was set afloat on a special raft designed to carry the excavator while it dredged the bottom of the waterway.
The canal came dangerously close to breaking its banks during the floods last month. The Phuket Irrigation Office station monitoring water levels in Ket Ho, Kathu, on Oct 19 reported the water level in the canal was 87cm lower than the canal’s banks.
However, the monitoring station at Satree Phuket School in northern Phuket Town on that day marked that the water level in the canal was just 3cm lower than the banks there.
The dangerous water levels spurred Phuket City Mayor Saroj Angkanapilas to issue a formal warning for residents living near the canal to prepare for serious floods.
Thankfully, the rains started to ease the next day and the water level in the canal subsided, with Phuket Town, and especially the Old Town area, avoiding heavy flood damage.