Several provinces in central Thailand braced for floods Sunday after the Irrigation Department announced it was releasing water from a major dam after weeks of frequent heavy rain

Chiang Mai, Thailand’s northern city popular with tourists, has been inundated by widespread flooding as its main river overflowed its banks following heavy seasonal rainfall.

The Chiang Mai city government said the water level of the Ping River, which runs along the eastern edge of the city, was at critically high levels and was rising since Friday.

Flash floods in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a popular destination for tourists, forced authorities to put the city on high alert as the it experienced significant flooding on September 5 due to the overflow of the Ping River following heavy seasonal rains.

Areas of a key tourist city in northern Thailand, as well as the surrounding provinces, have been flooded by swelling water levels of a major river in addition to a dam exceeding storage capacity.

In the Thai capital Bangkok, the government said Saturday it will let more water flow out of the Chao Phraya Dam in the central province of Chai Nat over the next seven days, as it risks exceeding it