Floods again!

[KoratCat]

Flooding hits roads, houses

More warnings issued and more rain expected

POST REPORTERS

Traffic on the Mittraphap highway linking the central and northeastern provinces was crippled yesterday as flood water cut off sections of roads in Nakhon Ratchasima and Saraburi. It has been raining heavily in the provinces since Wednesday, triggering widespread floods, which are likely to last a few more days as more rain is expected.

Motorists using Mittraphap road in Nakhon Ratchasima were forced to use the Old Mittraphap road instead as flood waters cut off the main road in Pak Chong district. A one-kilometre stretch is inundated, across both the inbound and outbound lanes.

Provincial governor Suthee Boonmark yesterday told disaster relief and traffic workers to try to drain the water to ease traffic problems.

Rescue staff were sent to search for Vinai Meesuk, a 32-year-old security guard who was swept away by water while on his way to work at a construction site in Pak Chong district yesterday.

In neighbouring Saraburi province, heavy rain also inundated the Mittraphap road. The water is about one metre deep, preventing motorists from entering the city centre.

The flood caused a traffic jam stretching at least 2km along the Mittraphap highway.

In Lop Buri, more than 20,000 families in six districts have been affected by water run-off from the mountains. Four houses were destroyed while a man was swept away in a strong current as he rode a motorcycle.

Two main roads were submerged, 10 schools closed and thousands of rai of farmland were underwater.

Residents living downstream on the Pasak river have been told to brace for possible floods as authorities started releasing water from the Pasak Jolasid dam.

All six gates of the dam were opened yesterday to speed up water drainage, causing levels downstream to rise rapidly.

''People living along the river banks in Tha Rua, Nakhon Luang and Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya districts could be hit by the river overflowing. Large amounts of water will be released from the dam for several days to ease flooding in upstream provinces,'' said Ayutthaya governor Preecha Kamolbutr.

In Prachin Buri, run-off from Khao Yai national park covered a bridge linking an industrial estate in Kabin Buri district and Buphram village.

More than 20 workers were trapped inside the industrial estate as they could not cross the bridge to get home. Boats were sent in to transport the workers.

The Meteorological Department yesterday issued flood warnings in 26 provinces. The department said heavy rain is predicted over the next few days in these provinces as an active low pressure system over the lower north and the central provinces will move towards Burma, while a strong southwest monsoon remains over the Andaman Sea, the South and the Gulf.

Flood-prone provinces include Tak, Phichit, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Loei, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, Saraburi, Lop Buri, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Kanchanaburi, Suphan Buri, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin Buri, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi and Trat.

Bangkok Post Sept. 13, 2008

[KoratCat]

Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima declared disaster area from critical flooding

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Sept 13 (TNA) -- Rescue officials are searching for one person missing in a flash flood which hit Northeast Thailand's Pak Chong district in Nakhon Ratchasima province Saturday, an area now declared a disaster area, after more than 200 homes were hit by raging floodwaters.

Water run-off from Khao Yai National Park swept into villagers' homes in the gateway district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, and provincial authorities tried to dispatch food to flood victims, even as rescue teams initiated a search for the unidentified missing person.

A relief centre was established at the Pak Chong district office. Rescue and emergency workers said they expected that the floodwaters could recede within a few days if there was no additional rain.

The disaster area was announced throughout the district to facilitate the relief mission to the victims.

In Tak province on Thailand's northwest border with Myanmar, flash floods raged into a village, causing more than 50 homes to be at least partially under water and causing much damage. Farmlands and crops were also heavily damaged.

Border patrol police distributed food and other necessities, donated by His Majesty the King, and stockpiled for such emergencies.

In the Northern province of Phetchabun, flash flooding from the Khao Kor hills -- caused by continued heavy rain, hit the main Saraburi-Lom Sak road in the provincial seat.

A section of roadway extending about one kilometre under water 60 centimetre deep waters caused difficulty for vehicles on the road.

Small vehicles were unable to travel the road, and emergency workers were mobilised to help drivers who became stranded or otherwise needed help.

Rising water inundated neighbourhoods and communities in Phetchabun's Tha Phon municipality, and some 1,000 sandbags were given to local residents in an attempt to prevent further floodwater encroachment.

Meanwhile, further south, heavy rainfall also hit the southern province of Surat Thani. Chaitut Boonpupuntunti, chief of Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani, said he had decided to close an important tourism destination within the park, for safety purposes to prevent last year's tragic accident from reoccurring.

Seven foreign tourists and their local guide died on October 13 when they were trapped inside a cave by a flash flood and drowned.

MCOT Sept. 13, 2008

[KoratCat]

Floods halt train services from capital to Northeast

POST REPORTERS

Several train services between Bangkok, Udon Thani and Nong Khai were suspended indefinitely yesterday after tracks and bridges were damaged by flooding which has ravaged several northeastern provinces.

The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) suspended special express train No 75/78 running between Bangkok and Udon Thani, and three Bangkok-Nong Khai express trains pending repair works on flood-damaged sections of tracks and bridges along the route, public relations chief Pairat Rojcharoenngarm said.

There were flash floods yesterday in several northeastern provinces, and particularly hard-hit was Nakhon Ratchasima's Muang district.

Several thousand households in Nakhon Ratchasima's municipal areas were inundated as the floodwaters were about 60cm to one metre high.

Heavy downpours increased the water level in Lam Takhong dam in Pak Thong Chai district to near its maximum holding capacity of 110 million cubic metres, said Chamlong Pinitkarn, director of the dam's water supply and maintenance.

To prevent the dam overflowing and flooding nearby houses and agricultural areas, dam officials were releasing about 1.4 million cubic metres of water a day into nearby canals.

In Ayutthaya, provincial authorities and local politicians strongly opposed moves by the the Natural Resource and Environment Ministry to set aside large areas of land in Ayutthaya to absorb excess water from the North in a bid to save Bangkok from flooding.

Ayutthaya governor Preecha Kamolbut said he would vehemently oppose any moves to use the province as a site to absorb northern run-off.

Earlier, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat ordered the ministry to put on hold its plan to designate 1,329 sq km of low-lying land in the Central region, including Ayutthaya, for water retention.

In eastern Trat province, Thanamlang school in Bo Rai district was preparing to cope with possible mudslides due to heavy downpours.

Natthachai Nampulsuksan, Bo Rai district chief, said several areas in the district were vulnerable to mudslides. Officials there have been placed on high alert.

The Disaster Mitigation and Prevention Department yesterday reported that water storage in five major dams has already passed 80% of the dams' capacity with the level in the Lam Phra Ploeng dam in Nakhon Ratchasima the highest at 96% of its capacity.

Five people have died due to the flooding _ two each in Saraburi and Nakhon Ratchasima and one in Lop Buri.

A total of 64 districts in 15 provinces have been hit by floods caused by a low pressure region lying across the northern part of Thailand. Heavy rains have wrought havoc in the North and Northeast for more than a week.

Bangkok Post Sept. 19, 2008

[KoratCat]

176 schools affected in flood zones, 73 in critically-hit Lop Buri

BANGKOK, Sept 22 (TNA) - A total of 176 public schools in various parts of the country have been severely affected by flooding, 85 of which have been temporarily shut down, said acting Deputy Education Minister Boonlue Prasertsopha.

Nearly half the affected schools are in Lop Buri province alone, indicating the severity of flooding in the central province.

Of the total flood-damaged schools in 14 provinces of the central, northeastern and northern regions, 73 are in Lop Buri province, followed by 24 in Chaiyaphoom province, 19 in Ayutthaya,16 in Prachin Buri, 11 each in Surin and Saraburi, among others. The flooding was estimated to cause at least Bt20 million in damages to
buildings, canteens, playgrounds and educational equipment at the public schools.

However, Mr. Boonlue said, students at the damaged schools will sit for exams at the end of the current semester at nearby schools which had not been affected by flooding. The O-Net and A-Net exams would not be affected by the flooding, he added.

Meanwhile, seasonal floods continue to cause damage and dislocation as the rains continue.

While floodwaters in the upper market of Kabin Buri district has lowered to 30 centimetres, Kabin Buri municipality's old market remains entirely inaccessible with two metre deep waters affecting some 200 households.

In the Northeastern region, residential and agricultural areas in Maha Sarakham province are still in catastrophe. The inundation is already the province's worst flooding in 10 years.

The bridge crossing between Buri Ram's Lam Plai Mat district and Huai Thalaeng district of Nakhon Ratchasima is closed for the third day due to high floodwaters, deluging households and vineyards in Buri Ram's Prakhon Chai district, leading to losses of more than Bt 3 million (some US$ 90,000).

In Phitsanulok province in the lower Northern region, large numbers of fish in basket farming died of the suspected reason of immediately higher water level.

Over 400 aquaculture farmers have take fish of substandard size for sale, as they are afraid their fish will continue dying.

The estimated revenue loss is more than Bt10 million (about $300,000). (TNA)

MCOT Sept. 22, 2008

[KoratCat]

STORM DAMAGE

Shoddy canal work 'ruined our farms'

PRASIT TANGPRASERT and SONTHANAPORN INCHAN

Farmers in Lop Buri's Ban Mi district have hired lawyers to sue the authorities for damage caused by floodwater gushing from a poorly-constructed canal that devastated their land. They claim an influential political figure in the district ordered the building of a dyke to keep water from flooding his home.

But no sandbags were used and later the water burst out of the Chai Nat-Pa Sak irrigation canal and inundated their fields in less than three hours. It destroyed their rice crops, which were about to be harvested.

It was unclear which agency the farmers plan to sue.

Puka tambon administration organisation chief Bao Thongdee, 70, said the farmers could not accept the loss of their crops because it did not stem from a natural disaster but from recklessness.

He said 200,000 rai of paddy fields in the district was flooded. Ban Mi is among the top-three rice producing districts in Lop Buri, he said. The others are Muang and Tha Wung districts.

Half of the 10,000 rai of inundated rice crop in tambon Puka was due to be harvested on Sept 14, he said.

A resident of Ban Mi district, Bang-on Boonklob, 45, said she had gone hundreds of thousands of baht into debt the moment her 50 rai of paddy was inundated. Her husband went into shock and had been hospitalised for over a week. The couple had expected to get 500,000 baht from the harvest.

Flooding which began on Sept 11 hit eight districts of Lop Buri and destroyed about 250,000 rai of paddy fields. Damage was estimated at over 400 million baht.

Rice fields in Ban Mi and Muang districts were under one metre of water. If no more rain falls it will take a week or two to pump out the flood water.

In Chachoengsao's Sanam Chai Khet district, tractors were used to move 200 families from four villages in tambon Tagradan, where water levels had risen from 80cm to two metres. Flat-bottomed boats could not handle the strong current.

Flood damage was estimated at 109 million baht in the five northeastern provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram, Surin and Si Sa Ket and the central province of Saraburi.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, the Moon river burst its banks and 25 districts were declared disaster zones.

The Meteorological Department has warned of more heavy rain and flash-floods in parts of the Northeast, North and eastern provinces over the next few days because of tropical storm Mekkhala.

The storm was expected to hit the coast of Vietnam yesterday morning before weakening into a tropical depression and crossing over to Nong Khai.

Bangkok Post, Oct. 1, 2008

[Naam Jai (?2008)]

More disaster for the peasants and pleasants.
What is the Government doing?
Sweet FA.
Chaiyaphum homes and shops (among many countrywide)were flooded for a week.
Shopkeepers lost trade and costs to clean up homes added to basic costs.
The Thai Government is offering 3billionTHB to the victims.
I know a shopkeeper in Chaiyaphum who went to ask for aid, but was refused on the grounds that the damage was not significant enough.
I suggested she hold the local officials head under water three times and bring it out twice.
Clearly the government needs a good kicking too.
It isn't just flooding thats an issue either.
Its effective water management, not free hand outs to the select few.
Irrigation systems and a clean piped continuous water supply, with adequate pressure, to rural areas is desperately needed for farming systems and better health.
And some farangs complain about PAD occupying the government offices in Bangkok, but I don't know why
Its time for democracy to mean just that in Thailand. Not just for the priviliged few.
But what can expats do when we are treated as "aliens" even when you have been here for years.
Assuming they want to do something for their "hosts"