Bamboo Grove wrote:According to an old Chinese legend, more than 4000 years ago Yu the Great solved the flooding problems in China by building canals. I just wonder if it would, with present engineering skills, to build canals from Chao Phraya river and its tributaries to areas which suffer from lack of water? Terry?
The Irrigation Dept. has hundreds of kilometres of canals, so construction per se would not be a problem. But as I see it, it is a much bigger problem due to much of the natural river drainage system being either just above sea level, and in some cases, actually below sea level.
Removing man made encroachment, clearing the existing system of accumulated rubbish and natural build up of silt, would be a good start, and also something that can be done immediately.
But it will take more than the current bunch of squabbling incumbents to achieve anything constructive.
The general trait here is, and always has been, "me first". Just take a look at the way cars are parked on expressways. Now I know that I want my car out of the flood path, but to blatantly block up expressways does not help anyone. I see this example first hand at my Condo in Bangkok. It just does not enter into anybodies thought process that they might be inconveniencing somebody else.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
The Condos themselves are not a problem, being on the 7th and 8th floors. If it gets up that high we will need more than water wings! The car parking is a big problem as it is well below the level of the adjacent Klong. They have closed off both the entry and exit ramps with 2 metre high walls, and a lot of the cars are in the adjacent multi storey car park, but it does not have enough space for all the cars that are normally underneath the buildings. Hence they are parked all about the place, including the ramps between floors, one prick taking up two spaces and another blocking both the entrance and the door to the lift.
Both myself and another Farang have been agitating for years to at least build a bund wall at the entrance into the emergency generator room, as in typical fashion the unit is in the underground car park area. All of the electrical distribution switchboards are also in that area!
Anyway, I have bailed out and am in Hua Hin, but my daughter and granddaughter are still there. The granddaughter is supposed to go back to School the middle of next week, and I will be surprised if the Schools actually open.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Lower Northern Thailand Relief 2011
THAI, in responses to flooding situation currently spreaded in Lower Northern and Central Regions of Thailand, operates special relief flight on Bangkok - Phitsanulok (v.v.) with special offer.
Effective for ticket date : 17 - 23 October 2011
Departure date : 17 - 23 October 2011
1200Bath
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.[Benjamin Franklin]
Nereus, in your travels out and to Hua Hin did you perhaps notice how the expressway is from Bang Na to the Port exit? The wife is determined to take my daughter to the Disney show at Paragon tomorrow and will be staying at The Davis as usual on soi 24. All that she has gleaned from Thai sources and friends is that area of the city should remain fine. Thanks any first hand observations. Pete
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
Complacent Bangkokians will have to suffer in turn
At this point it is not a question of if but when, and to what extent, inner Bangkok will be inundated by floods.
We are about to witness the beginning of an end. A massive volume of water from Chai Nat, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Sing Buri, Angthong, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani - accumulated over the past months and flowing to Rangsit in northern Bangkok - is creating tremendous pressure on the key barriers and water gates protecting the capital. The longer the barricades hold, the longer the suffering of the residents and businesses of northern Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi. They will also suffer from rising tides.
In densely populated Bangbua Thong, Nonthaburi, the situation is critical, with water rising to two metres. Thousands of people are stuck in their homes.
Industrial estates in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani have been decimated by Thailand's worst floods in 50 years. The damage is enormous to the Thai production hub. About 1,000 manufacturing plants in the industrial estates of central Thailand have been completely inundated, creating immediate unemployment for more than 600,000 workers. Car parts and components production, precision machinery and electronics have been hardest hit by the shutdown.
Farmland has been destroyed. Housing estates and villages are under water. More than a million Thais are homeless as their houses are submerged. They have difficulties in access to healthcare and sanctuary centres. Food and water have become scarce.
Central Thailand, the rice bowl of Thailand, is devastated. On the western side of the capital, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon have also received flood warnings. Bangkok, now surrounded by water on all sides, can no longer be saved at all cost. Already, many parts of outer Bangkok have been sparsely flooded. It is a matter of time before the water finds its way into the capital.
The government is under pressure to let a tiny portion of the water flow into Bangkok in order to relieve the burden outside the capital. Somehow in this democratic society, the share of suffering from the floods is not equally distributed.
Somkiat Prajamwong, an official at the Irrigation Department, has recommended that the government cave in to the water pressure by letting the water pass through Bangkok and into the sea. That would be the quickest way to release it from the north. The situation will be manageable, Somkiat added, if some 23 million cubic metres of water a day is allowed to make its way through Bangkok. Don Muang would have to be sacrificed as another line of defence. The authorities then could concentrate on pumping water out of Don Muang and to slow down the water flow into Bangkok.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has not had enough sleep. At 4am yesterday, she rushed to inspect Bangkok's water works system, flooded by water from Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate, and Thammasat University Rangsit campus. The system, which runs from Pathum Thani to Samsen waterworks canal in Dusit district of Bangkok, is under threat from the floods, which carry toxic materials from factories and households. The authorities have come out to reassure people that tap water still meets health standards and can be consumed.
Yingluck admitted yesterday that Bangkok could not be saved, as water would have to be allowed to flow into the capital, through its canals, to reduce pressure on the north. The water from canals would overflow to flood parts of Bangkok.
On Wednesday, Yingluck appealed to the media to give her a break. The crisis was beyond anybody's anticipation, she said. Reporters, she added, could not keep asking her whether Bangkok could be saved. The honeymoon period for Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister, has been brief and tragic.
Meanwhile, the Flood Relief Operation Command (Froc), chaired by Police General Pracha Phromnok, has come under acute criticism over its erratic performance and failure to keep up with the crisis. Pracha and his team have consistently fallen behind the curve in flood prevention, warnings, rescue operations and remedies. The squabbling between Froc and Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhan Paribatra has added salt to the wounds as Thais suffer the most severe disaster in modern history. The crisis management is nothing but a mess.
Bangkokians are in panic mode. They are stocking up on food and drinks and moving valuables and property to higher ground. After witnessing the floods in the north over the past three months with a sense of complacency, Bangkokians now realise that it is their turn to face the music. For the massive volume of water, in spite of efforts to divert it to the eastern and western sides of Bangkok, has nowhere else to go but downward to the capital's heartland.
(The Nation)
prcscct wrote:Nereus, in your travels out and to Hua Hin did you perhaps notice how the expressway is from Bang Na to the Port exit? The wife is determined to take my daughter to the Disney show at Paragon tomorrow and will be staying at The Davis as usual on soi 24. All that she has gleaned from Thai sources and friends is that area of the city should remain fine. Thanks any first hand observations. Pete
There is no flooding in that area, Pete. There was a huge traffic snarl at the Port entrance yesterday, I ended up giving up and went down a small Soi that runs parallel to the At Narong Rd. (that was at 11-00 am). Can never pick that intersection, it seems to vary with the Port activities. At least it is not very far from there to Rama 4 Rd., and then to Soi 24 if she were to go there first. From the Hotel I would suggest that she goes via BTS.
Not too sure about Bang Na though. If they come on the elevated tollway, and keep away from ground level, should be no problem.
I kept quiet about that show, so what Irene does not know won`t bother her!
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Thanks Nereus. You outlined her plan almost exactly. Let's hope she gets in, and out on Sunday with no difficulties. I'm putting a few life preservers in her car as we speak. Pete
Last edited by PeteC on Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
You better put a lot of bottled water and some tinned or packaged food as well Pete. Even though there is no flooding here, there was no bottled water at Tesco this morning and shelves that usually contained that type of food that will last were almost bare. Hua Hin shopping mall only had small bottles of water left.
So, the supply chain is disrupted even in places that are not flooded and panic buying is setting in as well. With over half a million people out of work (so far) how long will it be until the looting and rise in crime starts?
I suspect the next two days will see an influx of Bangkokians escaping the floods the likes of which Hua Hin and Cha-Am have never seen.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
People in southern Thailand are facing consumer goods shortages because of the increasing demand for goods for flood-hit areas to their north, reports said on Friday.
The intense flooding from the North into the Central Plains, and now Bangkok, has prompted many people to hoard goods.
To add to their problems, authorities have warned some provinces in the South to brace for flash floods and forest run-off this month from heavy rain.
Shortages of drinking water and other consumer products have been reported in many markets in the South.
Shopping malls in Songkhla's Hat Yai district have to put up 'out of stock' signs, the reports said.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Just been walking around the Samut Sakhon area tonight, where there hasn't as yet been any flooding, and neither Lotus' (2 big shops) or 7-11's (3 shops) have barely anything in stock. In place on all the shelves is a notice saying that deliveries haven't been able to be made.....all I wanted was a sandwich!
Alternate routes for Bangkok holiday-makers
October 21, 2011 3:07 am
Alternate routes are advised for holiday-makers heading out of Bangkok to substitute flooded roads, Highways Police commander Norrabun Naenna suggested Friday.
Motoristing heading North may use routes passing Nakhon Pathom, Ang Thong and Suphan Buri, or Route 11 through Prachin Buri. For northeast-bound motorists, they may head to Rangsit and take right turn into Ban Na district in Nakhon Nayok, then to Saraburi, or drive through Chachoengsao to Prachin Buri, then Pak Thong Chai district in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Key roads heading to the East and the South are not flooded. For more details please call 1193, Highways Police’s hotline.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
hhfarang wrote:.....I suspect the next two days will see an influx of Bangkokians escaping the floods the likes of which Hua Hin and Cha-Am have never seen.
The wife and daughter in a Bangkok now. They left early, really early, and it only took 1 hour 45 minutes door to door, arriving at 0830. She said there is no traffic anywhere, not even on the expressway. So....either still sleeping....staying home....or as HHF indicated above, have taken off to places out of the city. The hotel has the underground parking blocked off though, and sandbagged, so even in center city they are now taking precautions. Pete
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
You outlined her plan almost exactly. Let's hope she gets in, and out on Sunday with no difficulties. I'm putting a few life preservers in her car as we speak. 
Pete 