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The TMD Weather Forecast Bureau chief Somchai Baimoung told a water management meeting yesterday a storm surge would only happen if there was a tropical cyclone, storm with gusts of more 118 kilometres per hour.

In a model presented at the meeting, Somchai showed that storm surges do not affect vast areas. He said that if one did hit Bangkok, it would be concentrated in Samut Prakan Bay because the area was narrow.

However, he said, there was only a 1 per cent a storm surge would directly hit Bangkok. And, people should not worry because storm warnings would be released five days in advance.

Somchai also said rainfall was higher this year in the North, Northeast, South and the Central region compared to last year.

He said the monsoon trough hovering over the North and Northeast would bring downpours in those areas, but it would not affect the Central region because Laos and Vietnam would help absorb the storm's severity and turn it into a depression.

Royal Irrigation Department (RID) chief Theera Wongsamut said dams in Thailand had the capacity to hold a lot of water because they had been emptied in time for the rainy season.

He said the Bhumibol and Sirikit dams could take another 9,700 million cubic metres, while reservoirs across the country were only 66 per cent full.

Floods in the North were not affecting the Central region yet, but RID officials were ready to tackle any deluge and had formulated a watermanagement plan during the dry season to ensure people have enough water, he said.