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There are two refrences to "Bangkok residents advised to start storing tap water" in the headline, the e-mail link was the same claim, yet nothing in the story backs this dramatic headline up. Is this a fact or sensationalism, speculation or what?

Bangkok residents are advised to stockpile tapwater, as the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority governor Charoen Phassara yesterday described the tapwater situation "as worse than expected".

I dont know why you bother answering that last post. If an idiot wants official directions before preparing for the worst then he is beyond help. Its like another poster wanted to know if his address was in the at risk zone. At risk of what?

My province, flooded, is stacked up with 20+ wheel lorries in convoys moving in both directions on minor roads trying to find routes through the flooded zones. Our Tesco Lotus food is now down to about 30%. The freezers are empty, dried food and tins are almost gone Stocks are not getting through. Bangkok is truly a disaster in the making. It could turn into a hell hole of anger, disease and hunger....

When offers of help are made and accepted it does not come free, the helping countries send their over inflated invoices later. Why would anyone think these countries are being charitable? no they are waiting to make a quick buck.

Er what overinflated price. Is life so cheap, is there no potential problem from half a city soiling the water they live in..............

I cant believe the selfish self opinionated arrogant rubbish I am hearing about this disaster. I am talking about both sides....

If this isn't absolute proof of their bona fide stupidity, nothing is. It's as if they want people to die.

I showed my thai wife a picture of USS George Washington and she said "its so big. Its engine can help push the water" So there we have it Thailand totally misunderstands the equipment and men this massive ship carries. The government probably rejected help as they cant see how the stupid Americans will get the George Washinton up the Chayo Praya.

Its a relief to see the complacent are now offering some real comments. At last most people are waking up.

I am not in bangkok but can see the problem.: an estimated 17,000,000,000 tonnes of water trying to fit into three rivers with a daily capacity of 40,000,000 and all that water is now running downhill to the sea. A quick look at google earth suggests the flood is currently at a height of upto 40 ft above sea level and inner Bangkok is about 15 ft above sea level.

I see the next problem being the army/police being told to defend the dykes/levees ( wow 5 ft high! ) and being reluctant to take hostile action. This seems to me an impossible situation. No one is going to fire a gun at distressed people.

So bangkok will fall and in the words of the original Nation article: " Outspoken Science Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi yesterday urged the government to come clean with the people of Bangkok, as all parts of the capital would be submerged for more than a month."

Good luck you people I warn you what is coming is chronicly depressing.and strikes like a black fist into the soul...........

27 communities

Would this include Ratchada? I need to know please thanks.

If the governor says 27 communities you can guarantee its a figure out of thin air and on the optimistic side. .. coincidence 3 times 3 times 3.try adding another times 3.

To cover this point simply. The first photo was taken at 08:19 on the 14th.

This 2nd image was taken today at 17:03

er...not exactly 1m is it. Since I have taken that photo the water has continued to drop with the outgoing tide. I have sat at my desk with the view of the river for 4 years and I know the tides round here very well. The river IS very swollen, but it is not overflowing the wall. Right now it is 40cm below our flood wall. I am willing to accept that our flood wall might be higher, but 30cm higher?

How are those pics a reflection of the whole river? Do you think BKK is perfectly flat?

er...are you suggesting our river has hills?

Academic points.What does it matter how high your river retaining wall is. If you turn around you will see the 17 billion tons of water isnt actually keeping to the river course. yes its true it jumped out and is running loose in the streets and fields. and five metres is quoted. In Singburi ( my town ) as elsewhere, the river is 30 cms below the wall. The problem is it is 30 cms below the wall on both sides and both banks; and I guess you can go from Bangkok to Singburi by boat without using the rivers. ( 150 kilometres).

What a CROCK OF ****! We live on the Chao Praya at Charan Sanit Wong Soi 70/2 (Bangplad). I have been monitoring the water levels closely as we live RIGHT NEXT TO THE WATER. At 15:48 (high tide) the water was about 2" higher than yesterday's tide @ 16:48 (when the evac order was given) the water level had dropped by 2". I know this because I am using static points on the neighbouring building to monitor it. Simple technique, I know, but effective.

Will post more if it changes.

I dont know what you are trying to say. The water through BKK is increasing. High Tide Equinox is imminent. an inch or two here or there is hardly indicative of the forthcoming problems ....

oh, I get it!!! yes, you work for the department of disinformation ( government)

Firstly I am glad the complacent posters in the last few weeks are now having to think. Having said that my experience of living/surviving in a flooded province is that there is more point in relying on your neighbours than rhetoric spouting administrators. For example the local flood barriers were created at 20 cms. The warning was for 2 metres.

There is a certain amount of anger and this is caused by frustration. The outlet is to damage flood walls and let the water escape from your area. I know this sounds insane but a trillion tons( How much? I dont know but I went 10 km in a relief boat without site of land) was released by one guy in Nakon sawan. Apparantly an accident.

the point of this is that whatever people say sabotage is causing the best laid plans to collapse. Not necessarily sabotage in your street but maybe 100 kms away.

Sand bags do help, Some water seeps through but slow enough to bail. We fronted our bags with polythene and fixed it where possible. ( I couldnt find any duct tape anywhere and the local fabric tape is not water proof).

Toilets and drains back up. It is horrendous but after seeing and being with hundreds of people sitting in temp cover on roads week after week with no regular supplies or toilet facilies then we start to become human again.....

Was there ever really any doubt by anyone with a working brain?

Perhaps now they will wake up and realize that what happens in the provinces, CAN and WILL affect Bangkok.

Time will tell.

What brain. I note the bangkok minister of something complacently saying in Mondays paper that he had estimated the waters depth and had been proved correct within one centimetre and Bangkok had been saved!

That was page one Bangkok Post. Page 3 the Ayuddhaya minister said we cant contain it anymore so it will hit Bangkok within hours..............

Yes. What brain

Look at me I have my name in the paper , now what drivel can I spout to get further coverage....

Sorry to hear about Bangkok flooding but rurally 12 million people already are upto their necks... so sympathy is "watered down"

50,000 Baht a month seems to be the magic amount,and if you rent maybe 15,000pm bills water,elect about 3,000pm,internet and phone about 1,500pm + running a car or motor bike and the cost of the most important FOOD around 10,000pm. then you may fancy a beer ???? and extra cost like a chick or 2 per month Price ummm sky's the limit.this is a rough guide only.oh if you have kids they will need school etc 30,000-50,000 baht each per term

How can 50,000 be the magic amount. It doesnt reconcile with the exchange rate changes, average pension drawdowns or the immigration requirements.

These would produce figures of say 1) 70,000 ( 50,000 + exchange loss), 2) UK: 20,000 ( pension 100quid a week), 3) 33,333/66,666 ( 400k/800kpa)

The average of these three amounts is surprisingly about 50,000pm! oh well

I guess it depends where you take the sample. In my village in rural Thailand there are some guys who cant afford the immigration requirements and do visa runs. One chap never goes out and lives on chicken feet soup. Others like holidays(!) in Bangkok etc and that can may be 5,000baht per day ( TAT figures)

Of course dredging is a good idea, but - what are you going to do with the spoil? It will stink to high heaven and most probably be a health risk. Where are the barges and lighters to carry it away? Wouldn't the canal bridges prove to be major obstacles for dredgers? There are no simple solutions to the flood problem, and nobody with the balls to even try to ameliorate it. Should somebody try, the first ten years would be spent forming committees.

I believe the solution may be more straightforward. I recall reading that the Chayo Praya is 22metres deep at Wat Arun. This in itself didnt make sense until the possibility occured that the fast flowing water was actually dredging to this amazing depth.

If this is the case then the solution is to build waterways designed to maximise the dredging effect ensuring that the silt at the mouth can be easily dredged to keep the waterway open.

This solution keeps the initial problem of dredgers,lighters,barges etc to a minimum and allows later works to be carried out as required sea.

Another article I read said that barges and lighters form a regular convoy to Singapore for land reclamation, but hey, Thaksin needs the silt to infill his own sea wall off BKK

I just hope when all this is over, this government does everything in its power to help the people affected. Not just themselves.

I'm sure everyone agrees with your hopes. Sadly last time there was a crisis Abisit ( then in power) refused to allow relief to be handled at provincial level as " corruption will divert funds".

I remember a funny (!) incident when post tsunami a five million baht donation went missing:

It was removed from the desk in my office.

It was removed from a safe.

We never received it.....................

I am due to arrive in Thailand on 15th November and staying in the Chatcuchak area. Can anyone advise as to what kind of flood risk this area is in please? I have looked on Google maps and it does appear to be near some waterways.

Chatuchak Market had some flooding last week already, as I was told by a stall owner, and they are expecting more! Don't know about the area around, because the market itself is on a lower level than the surrounding area.

Thanks for the advice. I know I will not be there for another six weeks but I am trying to get some genuine information. I will be there for a month and wondering if I should bring some kind of wet suit and a shed load of antibiotics.

IMO you will have no problem in 6 weeks time as the current ( ugh pun) are to do with rainfall and the wet season ends this week, with the high tides equinox which again is this week. The remaining problem is not to do with more water but how to get rid of the stuff here already. Rivers overflowing banks should be ended as 6 weeks is enough to make repairs. Draining existing floods will become more manageable daily and shouyd also be done in 6 weeks.

IMO future problems are to do with clearing up the residual mud. Bangkok will be cleaned very fast. Rurally places will look a bit shi**y until the new seeding is done and crops start growing again. River banks will look terrible as no one beautifies them........

good luck

I was also looking for the 'Not the Nation' link....

Condoms can be used to collect water from a clean source when no other vestibule is available or has floated away....

The wellington boots provided by a previous aid effort may be too large for some of the children. Rubbers can be put over little Johnny's feet to keep them dry...

When boiled in water the latex condoms soften, increase in elasticity and can be stretched over ones head. An excellent method for the hi-so's and high-fro's to keep their bouffant hair style dry....

Condoms being of a non-porous nature prove to be an excellent measure in blocking drainage. This investment by the government ensures drainage blockage, further flooding and further aid efforts from which they can squander further income... clever !!!

there was an amazing email about condoms in China on you tube. There was everything quoted and more. I recall; a teat for feeding baby, inflated made a ball game; water wings,shower header, source of lubricant,ice pack, ice lolly mold,gloves.......

Overnight blackouts known to cause mini baby booms, something similar I suppose.

Nothing else to do, might as well have a shower in a raincoat.

Right you are. In 2003 there was a power grid failure in the Northeast US. Nine months later bingo, baby booms.

Amazing ignorance, A power cut in your own home is hardly comparable to being rehoused on a pallet on the main road ( which is also flooded)

The outrage of german fancy dress is well enough documented and commented upon here.

What appals me is the number of posts about the separate subject of the swastikas in Hindu mythology. Thailand is closer to Hinduism and India than to European history and so should be given some latitude here. If anyone wants to know more about the ancient origins of the swastika including its shape and layout then Wikipedia for one gives an excellent report http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika. The readers will notice that the crosslines traditionally were vertical and horizontal, there appears to be no specific colouring; the ears pointing sometimes to the left and sometimes the right. The Nazi sign is of dramatic colouring and the crosslines are 45 degrees off true.

maybe those correspondents who are outraged at the signs would care to comment on the stile of the badges.

Meanwhile the horror of the school pageantry sickens. When I think about the fines and penalties in Thailand for going against Thai normal practices such as defacing posters or taking your bra off in Songkran I am left speechless.................

Many kids have no reason to excel. sit around in their rural village earning a scrap or catching a bus to Ayutthaya for a 16 hour day that pays 300 baht. Wow.

I found that M1 (age about 11) was the best level for student achievement. After that they begin to grow up become individuals and then the system fails them. My students were losing the plot by age 15 and then those moving up to tech college etc didnt have a continuation of English classes. By 17 they had lost ambition and identity. About 5-10% had language skills. When I met these students in later life none could even even answer the question 'can you speak English'............

Why don't people buy insurance? That's what it's there for......the unexpected. And surely, the camp is licensed and thus has insurance coverage, too? The Gazette should do more than a 'happy ending' story like this and start to do some investigative journalism - and while they are at it, not use terms such as tragedy which implies loss of life. Horror would be more appropriate.

I cant see why you quibble with this use of tragedy. If you want to be accurate though a tragedy is something horrendous that is inevitable. Was it inevitable that captain went into an attack. I think maybe given time it was and still is. If you believe this event was a one off unpredictable event then horror would be more appropriate. Traditionally tragedy was a performance or play and as such the end is ordained, and so is inevitable.

Brits should member that anyone bribing a public official anywhere in the world is liable for upto 10 years in jail in the UK. If I go back then I will be facing life.

Bribes? I never pay bribes. I am a bit confused by the police stopping faranges ( me) and not having the language to fully explain why I have to pay speeding fines both when I have and have not been speeding. My speedo must be faulty. Another thing that I dont understand is why, when I am paying at the toll, does the vendor take my money and shout farange loudly.

At least I never pay bribes...........

Actually from my reading of Thai tax law many years ago Thailand does indeed tax worldwide income (as the USA) but in practice only requires payment of tax for money brought into the country in the year earned (but that could change at any time without law change). But for many countries there are tax treaties in place that may specify how payments may (and/or must) be handled. Do not believe paying tax and not having a record of employment/work permits is going to be much of a positive (except perhaps to indicate you are desperate to obtain citizenship for some reason; which could be taken as good or bad).

I spoke to the UK tax people several years ago about this but they said that as my income was earned through UK based companies (plus the UK military and the state pension) that I could not transfer the payment of tax to another country (specifically Thailand) where I live.

I also vaguely remember from a few years ago that Thailand and the UK have a no double taxation agreement which means that you are only taxed on your income in one country but YOU personally don't get to choose which one.

If you have a UK sourced income....you are scr*wed, they will tax you in the UK, you dont have a choice and even if you did, HMRS will want to see proof that approriate tax has been paid in Thailand and if the amount was less than what you would be paying in the UK, The UK tax man will want the difference between the two amounts.

Its not a question of being scr*wed. In the UK HMRC will assess the income for tax and take into account tax paid in a country with a double taxation agreement with the UK ( Thailand has and so qualifies) Put simply Thailand and UK have different rates of tax, your final tax paid will end up being calculated at the higher rate, whichever that is.

The Thai authorities tax income remitted to Thailand. Income is defined as money earned within the previous three months. So pension income sent to a Thai bank is taxable in Thailand but a transfer from a UK bank is not. It seems to me wise to have a balance in a UK bank of at least three months income topping it up from income and making withdrawals as required. In practice no one is checking but if you get into the Thai nationality syndrome with tax returns etc who knows what will happen....

Actually from my reading of Thai tax law many years ago Thailand does indeed tax worldwide income (as the USA) but in practice only requires payment of tax for money brought into the country in the year earned (but that could change at any time without law change). But for many countries there are tax treaties in place that may specify how payments may (and/or must) be handled. Do not believe paying tax and not having a record of employment/work permits is going to be much of a positive (except perhaps to indicate you are desperate to obtain citizenship for some reason; which could be taken as good or bad).

I spoke to the UK tax people several years ago about this but they said that as my income was earned through UK based companies (plus the UK military and the state pension) that I could not transfer the payment of tax to another country (specifically Thailand) where I live.

I also vaguely remember from a few years ago that Thailand and the UK have a no double taxation agreement which means that you are only taxed on your income in one country but YOU personally don't get to choose which one.

If you have a UK sourced income....you are scr*wed, they will tax you in the UK, you dont have a choice and even if you did, HMRS will want to see proof that approriate tax has been paid in Thailand and if the amount was less than what you would be paying in the UK, The UK tax man will want the difference between the two amounts.

Its not a question of being scr*wed. In the UK HMRC will assess the income for tax and take into account tax paid in a country with a double taxation agreement with the UK ( Thailand has and so qualifies) Put simply Thailand and UK have different rates of tax, your final tax paid will end up being calculated at the higher rate, whichever that is.

Be careful: Koh Samui is next on the list....

it is alredy bad here with ripp off taxi's , but they dont appear to be as violent as the phuket ones

really, In Samui I went from my hotel on a fixed charge passing songchaew ( excuse the spelling, I mean a pick up with twin benches in the back) on the return trip I got into another fixed price vehicle passing but was charged 300baht I refused to pay more than the fixed rate and the driver got violent. His excuse was fixed prices no longer apply after 6.00. cowboys.

I suppose it doesn't matter if this is all politically motivated. If each governing party straighten the paths a little bit it has to be good for the country.

The more people knock corruption and amoral behaviour the quicker Thailand will get its respect back.

These tuk tuk drivers should be arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a minimum of 5 to 10 years of hard time, with fines of a 1,000,000 baht each. Do you know how quickly the problems would stop? Overnight. The toy police are doing nothing, and are apathetic, and incompetent as usual. In other words, business as usual. But, not for long.

Apart from the fact that the actual drivers are penniless drivers its a great idea. The police and mafia bosses could share out the millions of baht fines and be rich and happy instead of neurotic and broke through lack of business......

OMG, appointing Chalerm to rid Bkk of the gambling dens is almost like appointing Chuwit to rid prostitution from the massage business.....

Its amazing that of all the problems reported on Thaivisa the police are directed to deal with not one of them. since when has gambling been reported to have caused ill treatment, injury, fraud....

Well done powers that be the police are going against a faceless crime the success of which cannot be measured.