Record Flooding in Thailand

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Yes, of course it’s Thai territory, but it’s not a southern island. It’s an eastern island. Close to Cambodia rather than down South. Unless there’s another Koh Kood.

Anyway, we’re still waiting for the water in central Bangkok. The prime minister has finally declared a natural disaster but refuses to declare a state of emergency. You’d think the two would go hand in hand, but apparently the legalities involved in a state of emergency would mean bringing the army out into the streets. This is a red-shirt, pro-Thaksin government – the PM is his sister, after all – and the last thing the red shirts want to see is the streets filled with soldiers for fear of another military coup like five years ago. And word is the military is against such a declaration for fear they’ll take the blame in case things really go tits up and they get blamed for it.

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This is pretty screwed too: Expressway parking angers motorists

In the photo, that’s two lanes of parking on both sides and only one left open to moving traffic.

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At Koh Kood right now, in the beach actually; I’ve been idling here for a few hours and I’m surprised by the high tide, not only is very high but it’s been up to here for the last three hours or so, it just doesn’t ebb. That doesn’t bode well for Bangkok.

aI’ll keep monitoring the tides earnestly… yeah, that’s the ticket. :wink:

44

The road near our village is sometimes used by North-South traffic when the interior roads are closed; we’ve reports that driving on this road is dangerous now because “drivers are angry.” :dubious: :mad:

We’re much closer to Bangkok as the “crow flies” but, given traffic, Chiang Mai is probably closer to us as the “wheels roll” even if Bangkok stays dry. So I’ve made an appointment to get my Affadavit there; family will get a little holiday there since it’s school-break time. (To be sure I also made two appointments at Bangkok. Perhaps State Dept. software will detect this and cancel all three appointments out of spite. :rolleyes: )

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Myself, I’m predicting a drone strike on your convoy.

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Yeah. Does the President have any reason to dislike you?

47

:confused: Do you guys know something I don’t? You’re making me worried. I’ve badmouthed the Thai Prime Minister’s brother right here on SDMB, but I’ve never even thrown a shoe at any sitting U.S. President. Now you’re making me think I’ll be rendered to the CIA as soon as I show up at the U.S. Consulate.

… Maybe I should skip the trip to Chiang Mai and report directly to the torture chambers on Bangkok’s Ratchadapisek Road.

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Tide around here is half a meter lower than yesterday, but still quite high.
I’ll have to take a closer look.

Puts on swimming trunks

Hey, I’m back to Bangkok in two days and I’ll probably have water up the Ying-Yang, so let me enjoy myself while I can. :wink:

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And here I thought the S&M clubs were in Sukhumvit Soi 33 and Patpong. Huh.

Still bone dry here in inner Bangkok, but water’s crept into Don Muang railway station across from the old airport in the very north of the city. Looks like the Thonburi area across the river may be in for a rough ride. Latest story here, complete with photos and updated map.

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I’ve never been to Ying-Yang, but I hear it’s nice.

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Not sure if this has already been linked-to… Google’s Thailand Flood Map. It takes about 20 seconds for the flooded area to show up.

So how is Bangkok Island doing today? I still have a plane ticket to go there six days from today to visit my inlaws. Their house is in Don Mueang, about 2 kilometers east of the airport and near North Bangkok University. They tell me that DM is high ground and should be safe, but the water appears to be creeping inward based on what I’m hearing.

52

Well, the water has started seeping into Don Muang district, which is in the northern edge of the city. Inner Bangkok is still dry. The rainy season may have ended now, as it’s not rained at all in at least 48 hours, but there’s been no discernible corresponding drop in temperature like usually happens at the end of the rains. Usually you can really feel a change in the air.

Many angry people outside the city keep trying to breach the barriers raised to keep the water out of Bangkok. Story here.

The police are begging people to stop parking their cars on the elevated motorways. Story here.

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Question: are they still allowing commercial traffic up the Chao Phraya? When I was in Bangkok last month I saw many barges plying the river as well as all the pleasure boats and river taxis. Has the current increased to dangerous levels?

I was also watching barges on the swollen Pa Sak up at Ayutthaya which looked a bit hairy, particularly under bridges. With the wide flooding further south, would riverboats even be able to tell where the river is any more?

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I’m not sure about commercial barges and such, but they definitely have stopped the water taxis.

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My FIL is supposed to fly back next Sunday. That map doesn’t look encouraging.

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Actually, now that I think about it, with all of the industrial estates inundated and production halted, commercial traffic will have naturally decreased by quite an extent anyway.

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An interesting overview on the last three major floods, including this year’s: 1983, 1995 and 2011.

But nothing compares with the Great Flood of 1942.

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The crocodiles are closing in on Bangkok. Eight found in the suburbs of Nonthaburi province, in the outskirts just to the north of the city. Two shot dead and six captured alive. You can see the two that were shot dead here. Just look at those babies. At least, I hope these are the two dead ones and they’re not just playing around with live ones.

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The situation seems to be ratcheting up now. Don Muang Airport in the far north of the city is now closed. That’s our second airport; was our main airport for 92 years until Suvarnabhumi opened five years ago. Suvarnabhumi’s still fine, but at Don Muang the waters started creeping over the runways and into the main building. Nok Air, which is Thai Airways’ budget arm, uses Don Muang as its hub and had already planned to halt flights for the rest of this month. Orient Thai, another budget airline (Motto: “You Fly, You Die”; or at least, I think that’s what it is) has shifted all of its flights from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi. The passengers who did manage to fly into Don Muang today found themselves stranded, as taxis wouldn’t touch the place now, and traffic sounds horrendous out there. Not sure what happened to those guys.

The government announced a five-day holiday for government officials starting Thursday. That includes the wife. No word on a bank holiday yet, although there’s a law that limits the number of consecutive days that they can be closed. Hundreds of branches have already been forced to shut though. Inner Bangkok is expected to start feeling something about Thursday – thus the reason for the five-day holiday to start that day – and high tides will make it more difficult to push it all out to sea. We’re stocked up on drinking water and will soon keep some pans of tap water around, as affected areas have started experiencing yellow tap water. Think I’ll do some loads of laundry in case that happens here too, not to mention possible power outages.

Whatever happens, we should be okay. Our unit is on the sixth floor, and our building is in a lane that I think is slightly elevated. Hopefully the worst is we’ll be a dry island surrounded by water. Many local hotels have started offering special rates for flood-affected residents, but I’d rather hold out here if possible.

Available taxis are getting harder to find too. I’ve noticed this the past couple of days, and a driver confirmed it to the wife today. He estimated maybe half the drivers are gone now – gone back upcountry or busy building up flood defenses at their homes here.

And the US Navy offered to help. Several ships have been in the area, led by the USS George Washington. But there were mixed signals from the Thai government. Some officials said yes, please help us. Other officials said thanks but no thanks, we’re okay, so please go away. Well, the US Navy understandably isn’t going to beg to have its help accepted, so now the George Washington is on its way to Japan last I heard. Bastard government. That’s Thaksin’s legacy; he always insisted Thailand should never accept help, and now his sister, the present prime minister, is following his orders.

Latest update on all this is here.

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And whatever help you get, make it pass as your own, have you seen the government aid kits and private donations relabeled with PTPs (Thaksin’s party) logo or with some PTP MP name on it?

Disgusting! :mad: