Sirikit Dam, one of the biggest dams in the country, in northern Uttaradit province released more water with the main purpose to cut retention capacity to less than 50 percent in preparation for the next rainy season, state-run MCOT reported Sunday.

The Royal Irrigation Department's water management committee has earlier directed the Sirikit Dam's director to increase water discharge from the dam, conforming to the government's policy to raise daily discharge volume between Jan. 27 and April.

The targeted retention capacity was less than 50 percent as an increase in rainfall during the upcoming rainy season was expected. The dam on Sunday released 46 million cubic metres of water and will raise the volume of discharged water to 50 million cubic metres per day on Jan. 31.

The plan of discharging water retention in major dams at the earliest stage came after the country faced the most severe flood crisis last year. Apart from the back-to-back tropical storms and heavy monsoons, late release of water from dams was attributed to the cause of massive floods which killed over 800 people and affected more than 13 million others across the country.