Isaan in grip of severe floods

[webfact]

Northeast in grip of severe floods

By The Nation

 

Nan province/Photo Vajiravit Leardbamrungchai

 

WARNINGS ISSUED FOR MANY PROVINCES AFTER HEAVY RAINS; OVERFLOWING MEKONG RIVER AND BRIMMING DAMS AND RESERVOIRS ALSO POSE DANGER

 

NORTHEASTERN provinces have been warned of heavy flooding due to the overflowing Mekong River and reservoirs, following days of heavy rains.

 

The warning by local authorities came as Thailand braces for at least two more storms originating in the Pacific Ocean between August and September.

 

Rising water levels in Mekong River yesterday caused flooding in many areas of Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Phanom and Mukdahan provinces, which are located along the international waterway. 

 

In Sakon Nakhon, following five days of heavy rains, large amounts of overflowing water from small dams and reservoirs increased the water level in Nong Han Lake, which is spread over 72,000 rai (28,466 acres) in the northeastern province’s Muang district.

 

Local residents have been warned to move their belongings to higher ground in preparation for possible inundation, particularly in areas around the lake.

 

In Ubon Ratchathani province, water levels in the Mekong along its Khong Chiam, Khemarat, Na Tan and Pho Sai districts continued to rise after days of downpours.

 

Low-lying areas in those districts were underwater yesterday. Hundreds of rai of farmland became flooded as a result.

Residents and their cattle were evacuated to safer areas.

 

In Nakhon Phanom, farming areas along the Mekong were inundated yesterday, as rains lashed the entire province.

 

The highest water level in the river that passes the province’s municipal area was measured at 11.27 metres, which is 1.73 metres below the critical level.

 

Residents in low-lying and riverside areas have been advised to move their belongings to higher ground and brace for possible flooding.

 

In Mukdahan province, many roads became impassable following a flash flood caused by rains. Many rice and rubber plantations were submerged and roads to several communities cut off. Provincial authorities said the water level in Mekong River reached a high of 11.44 metres, whereas the critical level is 12.5 metres.

 

Local officials and residents were on high alert for a second round of inundation, after more heavy rains yesterday.

 

The Meteorological Department has predicted heavy downpours in the North and Northeast for the rest of the month, covering as much as 80 per cent of the areas.

 

Meanwhile, authorities in Kanchanaburi province have warned of possible flooding in five districts as the province’s Vajiralongkorn Dam is holding record volumes of water.

 

Provincial governor Jirakiat Phumsawat sent an urgent letter to the chiefs of five districts – Muang, Thong Pha Phum, Sai Yok, Tha Muang and Tha Maka – likely to be affected by the large volumes of water being released from the dam.

 

The dam is holding 3,325 million cubic metres of water – the largest volume in 34 years. It is releasing 28 million cubic metres of water a day in order to maintain the appropriate volume of water in its reservoir, following continuous heavy rains, according to the governor’s letter.

 

Local officials maintained that the dam remained stable and safe.

 

Four major dams in the Central region – Bhumibol, Sirikit, Kwae Noi and Pasak Jalasid – are holding about 55 per cent of their combined capacity, according to the Royal Irrigation Department. Too much water released from those dams could affect Bangkok and the surrounding provinces.

 

Heavy rains have caused flooding and landslides in different areas of the country, including Kanchanaburi in the West and Nan in the North.

 

In Tak, a landslide partly damaged a house in Mae Sot district yesterday. All residents of the house were safe.

 

Earlier, landslides over the weekend in Nan’s Bo Kluea district resulted in eight deaths and shut down several roads.

 

The district chief ordered the evacuation of 33 remaining families from a valley village after a mudslide from a mountain buried four houses, killing eight villagers.

 

Nan Governor Paisal Wimonrat said yesterday resources had been mobilised, “but as of now, you still cannot use many roads”. Access to Bo Kluea was only possible via Pua district, he said. 

 

Thailand’s neighbouring countries Myanmar and Laos have also been affected by heavy rains. 

 

Heavy monsoon rains have pounded southeast Myanmar in recent days and show no signs of abating, raising fears that the worst might be yet to come. Floodwaters have forced thousands from their homes.

 

In Laos, a man was killed and two others injured when their truck loaded with provisions and donated items for Laotians affected by floodwaters plunged into a river in Savannakhet province. 

 

The vehicle accident site was about 80 kilometres from Attapeu province, which was inundated last Monday after the collapse of a rockfilled saddle section of the Xe Pien-Xe Namnoy dam, releasing tonnes of water onto six nearby villages.

 

Rescue workers rushed to the accident scene and found debris from the truck about 50 metres below a road bridge.

 

They had to use ropes to abseil from the bridge to the truck below.

 

The injured passengers were raised from the truck by stretchers. They told rescuers that they were Laotians and had left Pakse in Champasak province to deliver things donated by Thai and foreign authorities to those affected by inundation in Attapeu when the accident happened.

 

One of them said the truck was taking a turn when its brakes appeared to malfunction. The vehicle then skidded off the road, hit the bridge’s rail and plunged into the river.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30351031

2018-07-30

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-30

[soalbundy]

Not where I am, some rice crops are dying due to lack of rain and those surviving have no standing water so fertilizer can't be used, lot of glum faces here.

[Chassa]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

Not where I am, some rice crops are dying due to lack of rain and those surviving have no standing water so fertilizer can't be used, lot of glum faces here.

Same here - Nong Bua Lamphu.

[Happyman58]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

Not where I am, some rice crops are dying due to lack of rain and those surviving have no standing water so fertilizer can't be used, lot of glum faces here.

I live in Ubon ratchathani It has not stopped raining for  2 weeks Lend you some water if you want some We have plenty

[mfd101]

Lots of rain (I think) here in south Surin. But my family says: No, not enough. Very light monsoon. Rice not doing well ...

[bergan]

Here in Khon Kaen, we've had a lot of rain over the past 6 months.

[marko kok prong]

Here in Wichianburi ,Phetchabun province usually this time of year we would have had about 500 ml so far for the year we are near on 900 mil now,many of the paddies are full,and of course to much water is as bad for rice as not enough,everyday i see farmers frantically pumping water out into dams,but these are all now full,so if we get more as the met dept says,a lot of farmers may lose the crop,i do believe that sugar cane too does not like to much water,the benefit has been cooler temps and overcast skies. Strange that while much of the world is in the grip of a heatwave,SE Asia is having a very wet monsoon.

[ericnoodeeka]

same here in sakon nakhon, non stop rain, all crops under water. not looking good, don't want a repeat of last year bad floods.

[toofarnorth]

Through the rice fields all the klongs have been widened and at the end where the , now , rivers seperate the sluice gates are open , barely stopped raining in the past 2 weeks.

That is way up north.  The east sounds worse.

[Bangkok Barry]

I'm from the UK, where it tends to rain quite a lot in the 'summer'. Now, we have UK wet weather in Thailand and Thailand 35 degrees weather in the UK. Funny.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Bangkok Barry

[toofarnorth]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I'm from the UK, where it tends to rain quite a lot in the 'summer'. Now, we have UK wet weather in Thailand and Thailand 35 degrees weather in the UK. Funny.

My family coming over next month from Devon , hope they bring raincoats.

[Bangkok Barry]

55 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

My family coming over next month from Devon , hope they bring raincoats.

 

Devon is awesome.

[hotchilli]

Nakhon Pathom west of BKK, not too much rain at all.

Just a few afternoon early evening showers, nothing to worry about!

[Chassa]

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I'm from the UK, where it tends to rain quite a lot in the 'summer'. Now, we have UK wet weather in Thailand and Thailand 35 degrees weather in the UK. Funny.

Compared to the tropics the UK doesn't get  a lot of rain, just more wet days.

[Shaunduhpostman]

Kalasin province where I am has seen a lot of rain in the last week, tho today has seen the sun peeking through and no rain since last night, the ground is pretty saturated, another week of what we've had may push us into a problem area. Ironically our village has been cutoff from water for the last two days, the word is they can't fix the electrical problems that power the pumps for the water. Both water and electricity have been badly intermittent for the last 6 months, average of two power outages a day for at least an hour each. It is not unusual to have 6 power 390-45 minute power outages in an evening. The worst I've seen it since I moved up here 6 years ago.The Tambon office tells us that  they have installed some new equipment that just shuts power off now when the lines aren't delivering enough power. The woman running a small groery shop has had all of her refridgeration fried since this new helpful equipment was put in, our water pump was destroyed by the constant sudden stops in power it seems. But guy s in the village think its the trees banging the lines, and don't know about a switch shutting power off and dont want to hear that so they are unhooking the lines from off of the poles to try and run them underneath the tree branches.  We've had several 24 hour power outages, one was a transformer (I think, a large box on one of the poles) which the guys fixing it said had gotten fried because a bit of rain water had gotten into it. Obviously either not good equipment or people installing it aren't trained or aren't bothered with doing it correctly. People just accept not having a steady source of electricity, so when the weather gets bad things just seem to completely shut down. Again there is just a shrug, "it's rainy season."

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, Chassa said:

Compared to the tropics the UK doesn't get  a lot of rain, just more wet days.

 

As you say, it rarely gets 'man's rain'. I think it's something of a myth, the 'it always rains in Britain' thing. It's just grey a lot.

[Bangkok Barry]

27 minutes ago, Shaunduhpostman said:

Kalasin province where I am has seen a lot of rain in the last week, tho today has seen the sun peeking through and no rain since last night, the ground is pretty saturated, another week of what we've had may push us into a problem area. Ironically our village has been cutoff from water for the last two days, the word is they can't fix the electrical problems that power the pumps for the water. Both water and electricity have been badly intermittent for the last 6 months, average of two power outages a day for at least an hour each. It is not unusual to have 6 power 390-45 minute power outages in an evening. The worst I've seen it since I moved up here 6 years ago.The Tambon office tells us that  they have installed some new equipment that just shuts power off now when the lines aren't delivering enough power. The woman running a small groery shop has had all of her refridgeration fried since this new helpful equipment was put in, our water pump was destroyed by the constant sudden stops in power it seems. But guy s in the village think its the trees banging the lines, and don't know about a switch shutting power off and dont want to hear that so they are unhooking the lines from off of the poles to try and run them underneath the tree branches.  We've had several 24 hour power outages, one was a transformer (I think, a large box on one of the poles) which the guys fixing it said had gotten fried because a bit of rain water had gotten into it. Obviously either not good equipment or people installing it aren't trained or aren't bothered with doing it correctly. People just accept not having a steady source of electricity, so when the weather gets bad things just seem to completely shut down. Again there is just a shrug, "it's rainy season."

 

I'm in the same province. Ditto on the rain and ground, but our problems have been minor compared to yours. When the power does go off my wife picks up the phone, calls them and they send Somchai out and it's usually fixed pretty quick. Even at 4 in the morning, as happened recently. But you'd think, in 2018, the Thais might have worked out by now how electricity works and be able to supply a strong and uninterrupted service. I don't buy the developing nation nonsense. Thailand claims to have a long, centuries-old culture - so what have they been doing with their time?

What does piss me off is losing the True satellite signal, pretty much full-time recently. I only have it to get a good and reliable picture for the footy as it shows more Premier League matches than the UK stations I access, but as soon as this coming season is over I'm dropping it and we'll see what the Facebook coverage will be like.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Bangkok Barry

[billd766]

So far this year Khampaeng Phet city (the only Met Office weather station) has recorded the following rainfall.

 

January          7,2 mm

February       43.9 mm

March           41.5 mm

April            117.7 mm

May            129.5 mm

June           149.5 mm

July              98.1 mm to 07:00 this morning

 

Not as much as last year.

[toofarnorth]

5 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Devon is awesome.

Indeed and there is a lovely Thai restaurant in the Barbican , Plymouth .

Devon and Cornwall I miss big .

[thaiguzzi]

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 9:22 AM, Chassa said:

Same here - Nong Bua Lamphu.

Now that is strange. You are West of Udon, I am South East of Udon city by 80 kms.

It has pretty much not stopped since late April. Had one dry day in the last 3 weeks. Wettest rainy season in years.

[CanuckThai]

On 7/30/2018 at 4:26 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

 

I'm in the same province. Ditto on the rain and ground, but our problems have been minor compared to yours.

I'm in the same province also.  Same about the rain and ground water, but no immediate flooding.  We're located a couple of hundred meters from the local hospital, power outages have been frequent, but short and repaired quickly.

[marko kok prong]

On 7/30/2018 at 3:59 PM, Shaunduhpostman said:

Kalasin province where I am has seen a lot of rain in the last week, tho today has seen the sun peeking through and no rain since last night, the ground is pretty saturated, another week of what we've had may push us into a problem area. Ironically our village has been cutoff from water for the last two days, the word is they can't fix the electrical problems that power the pumps for the water. Both water and electricity have been badly intermittent for the last 6 months, average of two power outages a day for at least an hour each. It is not unusual to have 6 power 390-45 minute power outages in an evening. The worst I've seen it since I moved up here 6 years ago.The Tambon office tells us that  they have installed some new equipment that just shuts power off now when the lines aren't delivering enough power. The woman running a small groery shop has had all of her refridgeration fried since this new helpful equipment was put in, our water pump was destroyed by the constant sudden stops in power it seems. But guy s in the village think its the trees banging the lines, and don't know about a switch shutting power off and dont want to hear that so they are unhooking the lines from off of the poles to try and run them underneath the tree branches.  We've had several 24 hour power outages, one was a transformer (I think, a large box on one of the poles) which the guys fixing it said had gotten fried because a bit of rain water had gotten into it. Obviously either not good equipment or people installing it aren't trained or aren't bothered with doing it correctly. People just accept not having a steady source of electricity, so when the weather gets bad things just seem to completely shut down. Again there is just a shrug, "it's rainy season."

I agree it is very frustrating,yesterday we had about an hour outage ,also i have noted sometimes when a storm is coming they turn off the power.

[rickudon]

Like Thaiguzzi, in Udon itself lots of rain until about 10 days ago, very cloudy but little rain since, only bouts of drizzle. All our ponds were full a month ago (usually takes until September)