Thai Flooding Worst in Decades

[kamui]

Thai Flooding Worst in Decades

 

LOPBURI, Thailand  Devastating floods spreading from northeastern Thailand have left 17 people dead over the past two weeks as heavy rainfall has put entire villages underwater, destroyed crops and disrupted transportation and commerce.

 

Thailand’s relatively well organized government services appeared to have been caught by surprise and in some areas overwhelmed, with some survivors stranded for days without government aid. Officials describe the flooding, which follows deadly inundations in Vietnam and other nearby countries, as the worst in half a century. Damage is estimated at more than $650 million.

 

Twenty-eight of the country’s 77 provinces have been affected, including provinces just north of the capital, Bangkok. With the surge of water moving toward the mouth of the country’s largest river system, the government has warned residents in some parts of the capital to prepare for flooding in the coming days.

 

Ten of 33 major reservoirs in Thailand are over capacity and are being forced to dump water downstream, according to the government’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

 

Water is rushing through one crucial barrier about 110 miles north of Bangkok, the Pasak Jolasit dam here in Lopburi Province, at more than two times the normal flow for October. Engineers said that despite many pleas from cities and towns downstream to hold back the water, they instead opened the gates wider when the dam’s reservoir reached 122 percent of its planned capacity.

 

“If we get any more water than this, we might have problems with the stability of the dam,†Sornmith Singkanong, the head of water management, said from the dam’s control room. The water level was the highest recorded in the 11 years since the dam was completed.

 

Mr. Sornmith said that the water levels in the reservoir appeared to have peaked  the rainy season typically tapers off this month  but that a surge could reach Bangkok within two days.

 

Kallaya Witsahamunee, 59, a primary school teacher stranded on the second floor of her house in Lopburi Province, said that the floodwater arrived suddenly this week.

 

“It’s about neck-deep,†Ms. Kallaya said by telephone.

 

She said Thursday that no officials or aid organizations had reached her village since the flooding began and that neighbors were delivering food by boat.

 

Ms. Kallaya said that she did not remember any flooding in at least 15 years in her area. “I guess that’s why people got complacent,†she said.

 

 

NYT

 

[shygye]

I declare 2010, the year of the floods.

[Mentors]

so far no floods here in the South.

[Flashermac]

 

Back in the 1970s and '80s, floods were an annual occurence. I remember riding the train through what looked like the sea north of Nakorn Sawan. The only land to be seen was the narrow railway road bed. A few days a year even that would be cut. Bangkok would flood quite regularly too, my first apartment in the city going under about six inches of water for a week. The water in the compound outside was knee deep on me, thigh deep on the Thais. One problem was all the snakes the floods drove to high ground. You never realised how many poisonous beasties there were in Bangkok until the flood season.

 

The Ramkhahaeng area flooded so regularly that we called it the floating university.l

 

 

[ranma500]

From the Nation:

 

Sukhumbhand said the water situation in the city was "going to be critical" with rising levels of the Chao Phraya River due to water runoffs from the North and the rising sea tide.

 

He said the Meteorological Department also predicted more rain in Bangkok next week.

 

But he was still confident about city officials' flood prevention measures.

 

"The water level is expected to rise to a highest level of 2.3 metres on October 26 (Tuesday) - that is still well under Bangkok's flood prevention embankment, which is 2.5 metres high.

 

"Local residents should not panic. The BMA [bangkok Metropolitan Administration] is well prepared this year, better prepared than in the previous years," he said.

 

 

 

I'm not convinced that a 2.5m barrier means that 2.3m of water is 'well under'.

[Pom Michael]

No rain now for the last few days, so if it holds out and not rain it should not be too bad around the river.

[Flashermac]

I see dark clouds coming in the west right now ...

 

 

[waerth]

It's raining again ...

[Flashermac]

Just sprinkled in north Bangkok, not more than 15 minutes of it ... so far.

 

 

[cavanami]

I hear thunder out west of me. No sprinkles here at the ranch.