The Floods of 2011

[Nereus]

I'd missed your post originally Nereus, but I've just been watching the news here in the UK and they showed it being done ie a huge flotilla of boats turning their engines up full to move the water through faster.

My first inclination was to check the date to make sure it wasn't 1 April. However, they were all doing it, and it had Yingluck's backing, so I guess it is a serious attempt, but surely it can't be working - can it?

It was mentioned here: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=18424&p=229680#p229680

Because it has Yinglucks backing makes it all the more suspect!
She is just following the advice of some politician that is only interested in how many political points he can score.

It may work if they were able to "push" the water over a dam wall or spillway. But in open water the effect will soon be lost, in my opinion

edit: here is an example of Yinglucks standing:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... experience

[Nereus]

How believable is this? There are literally hundreds of "canals" in Bangkok. A lot of them are inaccessible to machines to "dredge" them. A lot of them, such as the one right outside of my Condo, are blocked up with commercial activities such as barges discharging sand. It will be the same old storey, some politician on TV promising all will be fixed, just until the shot is broadcast and he gets his tea money.

Yingluck: More canals to be dredged

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... be-dredged

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra assured the public again that Bangkok is safe and that to alleviate the suffering of people, all canals expediting waterflow into three rivers, Chao Phraya, Tha Chin and Bang Pakong, are being dredged so as to speed up the waterflow into the sea.


Ms Yingluck said the army told her that all dredging of all canals will be finished in 5 days.

The goverment's flood relief centre will map out relief/restoration plan on Monday.(after the pollies come back from their weekend away at their holiday camp in a National Park)

[squire]

I'd missed your post originally Nereus, but I've just been watching the news here in the UK and they showed it being done ie a huge flotilla of boats turning their engines up full to move the water through faster.

My first inclination was to check the date to make sure it wasn't 1 April. However, they were all doing it, and it had Yingluck's backing, so I guess it is a serious attempt, but surely it can't be working - can it?

It was HM's idea, therefore K. Yingluck & Co had to give it a go.

[Spitfire]

Dredging the rivers will help but should have been done every year, not just in panic when the brown stuff hits the fan, but I guess forward thinking like this is not indicative of the culture, so shouldn't be expected....sadly.

And as for motorboats using their propellers in this fashion in order to facilitate the desired ends described.......give me a break.....

[charlesh]

Only the Thais would consider pushing water up hill all mega billions of litres of it!
Have to agree Voranai must be the funniest journo in LOS.

[dtaai-maai]

Brilliantly funny, one of the best that I have seen in a long time.

Have to agree Voranai must be the funniest journo in LOS.

I really don't mean to be picky here, but I wonder if Mr V would appreciate this praise?

[pharvey]

Thailand flooding: authorities offer £20 bounty for floodwater crocodiles

Thailand's devastating floods have led to hundreds of crocodiles escaping in the inundated ancient Thai temple city of Ayyuthaya.
More than 300 crocodiles raised on legal and illegal farms around the city, north of Bangkok, have escaped after the flood waters swamped their enclosures.

A bounty has been placed on their heads. Public health minister Vitthaya Buranasiri has offered a reward of 1,000 baht (£20) for each of the reptiles recaptured, dead or alive.

The reptiles are up to several metres long and can be dangerous to humans. They have been spotted swimming in the flood waters in a number of the districts of the former Thai capital, a World Heritage site.

Up to 300 crocodiles escaped from two illegal breeding facilities in one area, while another 10 broke free from another farm and are on the loose. Crocodiles are kept as a visitors' attraction on some farms, while others are grown for their skins for shoes and handbags.

Thailand's natural resources ministry set up a "hot line" to enable people to report crocodiles or other animals on the loose in flood-hit areas. It has received "many calls".

Love the comment ''The reptiles are up to several metres long and can be dangerous to humans'' - you don't bloody say!!

We can buy croc meet in our local supermarket, and I can assure you you don't get much meat for 20 quid!!

Full story: - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... diles.html

[PeteC]

They'll eventually work their way to the river system, then gone for good and spread out far and wide. Central Thailand and the East used to be filled with crocs in the early days. Hopefully they'll eat their weight in stray dogs. Pete

[Khundon1975]

A friend from Rangsit phoned me this am, flood water about 3 feet deep there and rising, so I suppose that Don Muang airport is flooded.

[STEVE G]

Bangkok may face new eastern flood front
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... 8fc665a944

[PeteC]

Re the other thread on the Thai Baht and all the uncertainty about what these floods will do to the economy and exchange rates. I think we're going to see massive government spending after this is over to make sure it doesn't happen again. Foreign investors, especially the Japanese, aren't going to put up with this happening on a regular basis. I would say that if it does happen again, it's sawadee krup and they begin to close up many facilities here and open elsewhere in the region. For so many reasons the Thai government can't allow that to happen. To me that means years of very large deficit spending to come in order to build what needs to be built. Time will tell if I'm right and what it will all mean to those of us living off of foreign funds. Pete

[Big Boy]

I'd like to think you are right.

[PeteC]

Here is the front line as of this morning. Pete

fl1.jpg (68.62 KiB) Viewed 1157 times

Race begins to defend the capital
Sai Mai turns into a strategic battleground

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... he-capital

Published: 19/10/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is defending the eastern part of the capital by speeding up reinforcement of flood barriers in Sai Mai district to avert threats from rising floodwaters.

Sai Mai has become a strategic battleground for City Hall as failure to stop flooding there could see some northern and eastern districts close to inner Bangkok such as Don Muang, Bang Khen, Bang Kapi and Min Buri under water and inflict damage to the capital.

The BMA on Tuesday mobilised officials and volunteers to build "wider and stronger" dykes at Khlong Hok Wa canal in Sai Mai after being alerted by the government that it could not control floodwaters in Khlong 8 and Khlong 9 canals and their levels could reach 3.5 metres above the mean sea level and affect Sai Mai.

Great exodus: Nava Nakorn totally inundated

Also endangered: Three Pak Kret districts put on alert

The six-kilometre-long dykes were built to a height of 2.5m above the mean sea level and more are under construction with 500,000 sandbags.

But that seemed not to be enough for the campaign as Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the BMA needed 2 million sandbags for the dyke in 48 hours. The BMA can produce 250,000 more per day and the government has promised to supply 1 million more.

"We need to make the barrier wider and stronger. That is our objective today," the governor said.

"Bangkok is my home. I'm the housekeeper for the whole of Bangkok, so I cannot allow flooding in any part of the city without trying to stop it," he added, as thousands of volunteers helped build a wall of sandbags to protect Khlong Hok Wa from the runoff of flooding north of the capital.

Med Yuwalaboon, a shop owner who went to help in Pathum Thani before coming to Sai Mai said: "I think we need to help one another. If you ask me whether Bangkok can be allowed to be flooded, I would say yes. It's my home too but I believe we have to share the suffering if the flood really comes."

Other areas where dykes were reinforced yesterday included those in Liap Khlong 2 road and the U-turn under a bridge of Phahon Yothin road close to Rangsit Prayoonsak canal as the spot connects to Don Muang.

MR Sukhumbhand hoped the government would keep its promise to limit the drainage of floodwaters from Pathum Thani to wait for Bangkok to reinforce its dykes and help protect the capital.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the government would drain floodwater from Pathum Thani province through Raphiphat and Rangsit Prayoonsak canals and the eastern part of Bangkok into the sea. She said locals would be affected but most of the floodwater would pass fields.

But the water level of Raphipat canal in Khlong Luang district in Pathum Thani continued to rise and waters had poured through a damaged flood wall.

Authorities and volunteers were attempting to repair the flood wall quickly, as main roads could be cut off if more water entered the area.

Yesterday floodwaters from the North inundated Phahon Yothin and Rangsit-Pathum Thani roads as well as the Rangsit market in Thanyaburi district of Pathum Thani.

Inbound lanes of Phahon Yothin Road from Rangsit area to the Zeer Rangsit shopping centre in Lam Luk Ka district were flooded.

The Ratanakosin 200 Years housing estate near the Rangsit railway station was 1.5m under water. Many people in deeply flooded communities in Rangsit were evacuated.

Floodwater broke through a 7m section of the soil dyke near Raphiphat canal, inundating communities between Khlong 3 and Khlong 4 areas in Rangsit.

[Nereus]

Re the other thread on the Thai Baht and all the uncertainty about what these floods will do to the economy and exchange rates. I think we're going to see massive government spending after this is over to make sure it doesn't happen again. Foreign investors, especially the Japanese, aren't going to put up with this happening on a regular basis. I would say that if it does happen again, it's sawadee krup and they begin to close up many facilities here and open elsewhere in the region. For so many reasons the Thai government can't allow that to happen. To me that means years of very large deficit spending to come in order to build what needs to be built. Time will tell if I'm right and what it will all mean to those of us living off of foreign funds. Pete

What needs to be built is going to be the stumbling block. They do not know what needs to be built, and they will not lose face by calling in somebody the that may know.
There are also too many puy yai with vested interests in places and activities that need to be changed.

One perfect example is Klong Phrakhanong right outside my Condo, as I mentioned before. This is about 500 metres downstream of a huge pumping station that is part of the containment area. There are 6 huge sand carrying barges anchored up as of yesterday. One of them is permanently moored ACROSS 3/4 of the Klong and used as a pier for unloading. There is a huge pile of rubbish up against the upstream side of it contributing to the blockage. The people that own it / work on it are all just sitting around drinking, as there are no full barges arriving.

There would need to be resumption of land and buildings in many areas to enable construction of both dyke's and diversion canals. Just imagine the outcry and demonstrations that would cause! There are already examples being reported of local populations tearing down sections of sandbags, and damaging control sluice gates.

It is going to take a lot more constructive effort than is being shown at the moment, to get any sort of long term solution to this problem. And I cannot see it coming from the present Government, or anybody else for that matter.
...............................................................................
edit: here is exactly the problem:

Govt wrestles with telling truth or lies about floods

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... out-floods

[PeteC]

If that reporting and mentality is accurate, in my opinion another coup is not only needed but should be demanded immediately. This government, and perhaps not any elected coalition government, is going to be able to handle the post-flood swiftly and properly IMO. They won't even declare a state of emergency out of fear the military will run away with things. They are probably correct in that regard and the military will out perform the government and look like hero's. We can't have that happen can we...heaven forbid! Pete