News Forum - PM surveys damage from floods, says government needs better plan to handle floods in the future

[KaptainRob]

8 minutes ago, Stardust said:

The problem also is they make no infrastructure planing before they build, condos, etc and not plan where the water should flow when the rain comes

Correct, everything done on the cheap with no oversight. 

The old city in Chiang Mai floods anytime a cup of tea gets spilt and that's down to ancient pipes, too small, 50% or more full of silt and almost no fall to the river.  More than 100 years on and they still build new developments the same way!

[Rain]

....and still, most are getting it. 

[Convert54]

6 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

building more trains is the solution. 

Elevated rail....tourism op.....see our famous floodwaters

[Bob20]

7 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

Correct, everything done on the cheap with no oversight. 

The old city in Chiang Mai floods anytime a cup of tea gets spilt and that's down to ancient pipes, too small, 50% or more full of silt and almost no fall to the river.  More than 100 years on and they still build new developments the same way!

Let's hope it changes a bit, as during Covid they've actually dug up many roads and created better larger drains. If they did it right then they didn't leave a bottleneck right at the end

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

5 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

If they did it right

Big IF

[Soidog]

13 hours ago, Fluke said:

What can be done though ?

What is the solution ?

The Thais could ask the Dutch! They seem to know a thing or two about dykes dams and water management. Feel free to forward this to the Thai Government!
 

 The Netherlands (or Holland as some call it)  is a country in the North of “farrangland” a short 12 hour flight from BKK, just to the south east of the Farang Island the local people call the United Kingdom. They do speak what you think is the Farang language you refer to as Angrit, but it may come as a shock to you that they also have their own language called Dutch. The capital City is not Farangville but goes by the name of Amsterdam. You may have heard some Farang refer to Krung Thep as Amsterdam of the East? The international dialling code is +31 and the telephone number of the Dutch department of Infrastructure and Water Management is +31 70 214 02 14. Give them a call and they may even help for free. But please, if they do help for free then no paperwork please. Hope this helps  

[Bob20]

3 minutes ago, Soidog said:

The Thais could ask the Dutch! They seem to know a thing or two about dykes dams and water management. Feel free to forward this to the Thai Government!
 

 The Netherlands (or Holland as some call it)  is a country in the North of “farrangland” a short 12 hour flight from BKK, just to the south east of the Farang Island the local people call the United Kingdom. They do speak what you think is the Farang language you refer to as Angrit, but it may come as a shock to you that they also have their own language called Dutch. The capital City is not Farangville but goes by the name of Amsterdam. You may have heard some Farang refer to Krung Thep as Amsterdam of the East? The international dialling code is +31 and the telephone number of the Dutch department of Infrastructure and Water Management is +31 70 214 02 14. Give them a call and they may even help for free. But please, if they do help for free then no paperwork please. Hope this helps  

Red cap, white skin and blond hair optional. Thais can do this too

[Metaluna]

On 9/27/2021 at 9:48 AM, gummy said:

Well Prayut, you should remember that Yingluck had long term plans in hand after the 2011 disaster but you removed her by force illegally. 

Many things were completed in and around my village, including dredging, installing new and larger sewer lines, and biggest of all elevating Borom to act as a levee during floods.

[Fester]

On 9/27/2021 at 10:13 AM, Fluke said:

What can be done though ?

What is the solution ?

Average yearly rainfall in Thailand has actually been trending down in recent decades - this year, evidently, that trend will be broken. The recent tropical depression was not particularly big but it did dump a lot of rain onto land that was already saturated by a rather persistent wet season this year. Much of the flooding occurs after water has to be released from the various dams into the river systems, when the reservoirs are getting full. How much water to release and when to do it is a often a problem because if too much is let go, and no more rain falls after that, then there is a risk of shortages and drought in the following dry season. 

There are no short-term solutions but future flood risk (and water availablity when needed) may be mitigated by:

Greater large-scale reservoir storage capacity (tough one I know).

 Properly planned and controlled urban development, with adequate drainage (tough enough).

 Extra or upgraded drainage capacity in existing flood-prone areas (another tough one).

 Severe restrictions on logging - encourage reforestation as much as possible. Trees love water.

 Severe restrictions on new building, with special emphasis on enabling water to infiltrate and recharge known natural aquifers (groundwater) as much as possible. Take it easy on the concrete car parks etc!

All the above would require the will of the government and people. Plus a massive bunch of money.

But with Pattaya as a good example, people who are familiar with the place will not be so familiar with the amount of flooding there as seen in recent years. Floods have resulted from relatively small storms, which used to not problematic. Why? Because of the continuous and relentles expansion of the concrete and cement blanket, the removal of the old storm drains (V-ditches) on the main roads, blocked and small diameter drain pipes, all along with the ever-increasing number of people living there.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Fester
lots

[Fester]

56 minutes ago, Fester said:

Average yearly rainfall in Thailand has actually been trending down in recent decades - this year, evidently, that trend will be broken. The recent tropical depression was not particularly big but it did dump a lot of rain onto land that was already saturated by a rather persistent wet season this year. Much of the flooding occurs after water has to be released from the various dams into the river systems, when the reservoirs are getting full. How much water to release and when to do it is a often a problem because if too much is let go, and no more rain falls after that, then there is a risk of shortages and drought in the following dry season. 

There are no short-term solutions but future flood risk (and water availablity when needed) may be mitigated by:

Greater large-scale reservoir storage capacity (tough one I know).

 Properly planned and controlled urban development, with adequate drainage (tough enough).

 Extra or upgraded drainage capacity in existing flood-prone areas (another tough one).

 Severe restrictions on logging - encourage reforestation as much as possible. Trees love water.

 Severe restrictions on new building, with special emphasis on enabling water to infiltrate and recharge known natural aquifers (groundwater) as much as possible. Take it easy on the concrete car parks etc!

All the above would require the will of the government and people. Plus a massive bunch of money.

But with Pattaya as a good example, people who are familiar with the place will not be so familiar with the amount of flooding there as seen in recent years. Floods have resulted from relatively small storms, which used to not problematic. Why? Because of the continuous and relentles expansion of the concrete and cement blanket, the removal of the old storm drains (V-ditches) on the main roads, blocked and small diameter drain pipes, all along with the ever-increasing number of people living there.

Misssed another error - final para, line three, should read:

storms, which used not be problematic. Why? Because of the continuous and relentles expansion of

 

[gummy]

And in breaking news it was announced that in order to find the best approach to the flooding situation the PM and a few of his selected ministers will be having a private viewing of "Noah" hosted by Russel Crowe 

[Rain]

The flooding and seasonal cycles is not a recent phenomena - It just is.

In the good old days - before the lovely and ingenious ideals of cementing everything over and systematically removing great networks of hklongs - high water was expected and even managed to a point that it was never critical. 

 

The weather patterns and amounts of seasonal rainfall have not changed much at all over the last couple of centuries. The land and environment handled it in it's own natural way. 

What has dramatically changed is the way in which we interact with the landscape and season cycles. 

We don't interact anymore, we intercede and interfere greatly. 

[Rain]

16 hours ago, Soidog said:

The Thais could ask the Dutch! They seem to know a thing or two about dykes dams and water management. Feel free to forward this to the Thai Government!
 

 The Netherlands (or Holland as some call it)  is a country in the North of “farrangland” a short 12 hour flight from BKK, just to the south east of the Farang Island the local people call the United Kingdom. They do speak what you think is the Farang language you refer to as Angrit, but it may come as a shock to you that they also have their own language called Dutch. The capital City is not Farangville but goes by the name of Amsterdam. You may have heard some Farang refer to Krung Thep as Amsterdam of the East? The international dialling code is +31 and the telephone number of the Dutch department of Infrastructure and Water Management is +31 70 214 02 14. Give them a call and they may even help for free. But please, if they do help for free then no paperwork please. Hope this helps  

Deluded.

[Soidog]

2 hours ago, Rain said:

Deluded.

I know they are @Rain  but they can’t help it!