Cyclone in Issaan

[Mukdahanman]

Last 2 days have been appalling in Mukdahan.

Flooding like no one can remember, trees down, Mekong way up with bridges over the rivers feeding into it being underwater, no electricity for 2 days (not main city), and still none in most areas apart from mine, no 4G and rather ironically no water supply. Rice fields are so flooded that they are now being fished by locals.

[nightfox]

And people were complaining just a few days ago about the drought is Issan....

[Brunolem]

15 hours ago, nightfox said:

And people were complaining just a few days ago about the drought is Issan....

A drought followed by a flood is not at all the same as a regular rain season. 

 

Too much water is not better than not enough. 

 

The rice which had grown 20 cm in 3 months suddenly finds itseld drowned under a deluge that could make it rot... 

 

In fact, we are still waiting for the rain season, because this depression was coming from the Pacific and had nothing to do with the monsoon... 

[jimmyyy]

Started raining again last night and has not stopped, ground is saturated, roads are flooding again. 

[dsfbrit]

I am driving to Mukdahan from Pattaya tomorrow (Wednesday). Is the weather looking a bit better up there??? The weather reports just say 'cloudy'. I take it the floods are gone now??

 

Hope so...

 

 

[colinneil]

29 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

I am driving to Mukdahan from Pattaya tomorrow (Wednesday). Is the weather looking a bit better up there??? The weather reports just say 'cloudy'. I take it the floods are gone now??

 

Hope so...

 

 

Are you serious?

You take it the floods have gone.

Raining now, roads still under water, i know i am in the middle of it, stay were you are.

Stay safe...... Dont travel.

[owl sees all]

2 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Are you serious?

You take it the floods have gone.

Raining now, roads still under water, i know i am in the middle of it, stay were you are.

Stay safe...... Dont travel.

There are other routes Colin. Couldn't he take some back-roads?

[colinneil]

1 minute ago, owl sees all said:

There are other routes Colin. Couldn't he take some back-roads?

The floods have not gone, many roads still impassable.

Anybody thinking of travelling that distance should think again and stay home.

Raining again now, much more to come.

My wife has gone to school this morning, just phoned me she had to turn around twice, and try other roads.

[owl sees all]

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

The floods have not gone, many roads still impassable.

Anybody thinking of travelling that distance should think again and stay home.

Raining again now, much more to come.

My wife has gone to school this morning, just phoned me she had to turn around twice, and try other roads.

Interesting. But are there not any roads that are clear? Surely they are not all in vallies or low lying areas?!

 

And all these inclement weather make me think; what  constitutes rain. I think it's raining if it is enough to stop a game of cricket. Any thoughts on this Colin!?

 

Just started to rain here, at last. 15k south of the Mekong, Nong Khai area.

[colinneil]

1 minute ago, owl sees all said:

Interesting. But are there not any roads that are clear? Surely they are not all in vallies or low lying areas?!

 

And all these inclement weather make me think; what  constitutes rain. I think it's raining if it is enough to stop a game of cricket. Any thoughts on this Colin!?

 

Just started to rain here, at last. 15k south of the Mekong, Nong Khai area.

The rain is bouncing off the concrete here at the moment, certainly would stop any game of cricket.

Cannot answer you about any roads clear, my wife gets all the info from local sources, and she is not here.

Two days ago water outside our gate maybe 18 inches, yesterday down to maybe 8/10 inches, this morning back to 18 inches.

[Patriot]

1 hour ago, dsfbrit said:

I am driving to Mukdahan from Pattaya tomorrow (Wednesday). Is the weather looking a bit better up there??? The weather reports just say 'cloudy'. I take it the floods are gone now??

 

Hope so...

 

 

As Colin suggested, I would stay put until the storm has well past. Not only getting TO Mukdahan,  but trying to navigate around there once arrived will be a nightmare 

[owl sees all]

26 minutes ago, colinneil said:

The rain is bouncing off the concrete here at the moment, certainly would stop any game of cricket.

Cannot answer you about any roads clear, my wife gets all the info from local sources, and she is not here.

Two days ago water outside our gate maybe 18 inches, yesterday down to maybe 8/10 inches, this morning back to 18 inches.

Thanks, but I'm personally not travelling anywhere near KhonKaen or Mukdahan, but was concerned that @dsfbrit (post #35) was travelling tomorrow, in dangerous circumstances.

 

There have been lots of vid's and pic's on the Thai news of big areas, within Isaan, well flooded.

 

We are a little bit on the high side here, but all the same, if there is big rain, farms will suffer. They have been decimated  already (due to no rain for over a month) and many farmers replanted rice just a month ago. Plus, we have just heard (this morning) that the rice subsidy has been slashed from 1,500 to 500 Baht a rai. Farmers were banking on this to get some dosh back; they are desperate.

 

 

[Mukdahanman]

1 hour ago, dsfbrit said:

I am driving to Mukdahan from Pattaya tomorrow (Wednesday). Is the weather looking a bit better up there??? The weather reports just say 'cloudy'. I take it the floods are gone now??

 

Hope so...

 

 

Still raining consistently here today (Tuesday) but flooding has subsided on the main roads so you should be okay, but as Colin has already said, best not to travel at the moment unless you have to, it’s a bit of a gamble.

If you do, stick to the main roads as the backroads are far worse.

Best of luck.

 

 

 

[Mukdahanman]

What’s up Colin?

[colinneil]

3 minutes ago, Mukdahanman said:

What’s up Colin?

Whats up.... Heavy rain now, many roads that were safe this morning, not safe now.

Maybe roads in/ around Mukdahan are now ok, but roads to and from could be getting more water and flooding again.

Surely safety should come first, not just i have to get there.

 

[Mukdahanman]

Just now, colinneil said:

Whats up.... Heavy rain now, many roads that were safe this morning, not safe now.

Maybe roads in/ around Mukdahan are now ok, but roads to and from could be getting more water and flooding again.

Surely safety should come first, not just i have to get there.

 

Agreed - maybe you read my post before I edited it

[bkkcanuck8]

32 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Thanks, but I'm personally not travelling anywhere near KhonKaen or Mukdahan, but was concerned that @dsfbrit (post #35) was travelling tomorrow, in dangerous circumstances.

 

There have been lots of vid's and pic's on the Thai news of big areas, within Isaan, well flooded.

 

We are a little bit on the high side here, but all the same, if there is big rain, farms will suffer. They have been decimated  already (due to no rain for over a month) and many farmers replanted rice just a month ago. Plus, we have just heard (this morning) that the rice subsidy has been slashed from 1,500 to 500 Baht a rai. Farmers were banking on this to get some dosh back; they are desperate.

 

 

Was in Khon Kaen yesterday... stayed at Ingara Hotel and in the morning decided to get a taxi to the bus terminal early in the morning so I could avoid rain... tried calling taxi for 10 to 15 minutes... when finally got back to me ... told me no taxi... flood.  (my thai still does not allow me too much detail) -- so I had visions of taxis all underwater... then called Grab.... same same.... (I am guessing they are all the same taxis). 

 

Finally gave up and went out and caught songthaew #8 (the raining had subsided - so I was fairly dry luckily)...  and still managed to get to the bus station 30 minutes early (I guess for once my paranoia of getting there early worked out).... I saw none of the taxis hanging around (but I did not go looking)...  no problems on the drive back.  There was a minuscule detour (gold bus route) on the way there and the 'lake' is probably a couple feet more water... but no issues with floods in areas I was located in.  The afternoon of the previous day had no rain...

 

[colinneil]

1 minute ago, Mukdahanman said:

Agreed - maybe you read my post before I edited it

Yes i did, what you added later makes a lot of sense.

[SantiSuk]

On 8/31/2019 at 9:59 PM, nightfox said:

And people were complaining just a few days ago about the drought is Issan....

We've had the first really decent rain, courtesy of the cyclone, for a year in my part of Lower Sisaket. Half decent rains for a couple of weeks before that rescued most of the dried out crops just in time.

 

Long term we still need a lot more. 2020 dry season will be a drought season unless rains like this continue to come in September. The local reservoir up the road from me and symptomatic of the water table around here is still showing only 23% of capacity as of 2-September!

[dsfbrit]

Thanks for all the replies. I did not realise it was so bad.

 

I need to go there to meet some people at the Land Office on Thursday. I don't really want to cancel if I can help it as it has been quite complicated to get them all there one the same day (several people becoming joint owners of some land).

 

I will ask the people we are planning to meet who live locally what they think as well. They should be able to give some advice.

I would have spent more time asking them rather than coming to TV, but I could not get in touch with them. I think they have just one phone between several of them and it is not working very well - maybe because of the weather?

 

Thanks again

[dsfbrit]

I have to go... I set off at 5am. I will bring my water wings...thanks for your help much appreciated.

[Patriot]

41 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

I have to go... I set off at 5am. I will bring my water wings...thanks for your help much appreciated.

Good luck and safe travels

[Speedo1968]

I live in just out side Banphai.

Govt warning was for Saturday and Sunday WRONG the rains and flooding came Thursday and Friday.

Rained again yesterday - Tuesday - today ?

Water in local river rose about 7 metres+ reached 3 - 4 metres roadside tree level.

Many friends and people I know around me homes completely flooded.

[Farma]

Just seen some video from a friend currently travelling by bus from the border to ubon. Lots of flooding from amnat south. It looks like a foot of water on the roads in stretches. Pickups are making it through.

[jimmyyy]

has not stopped raining here in Borabue for 5 minutes in the last 48 hours, in other news the wood collection for my party Ark is not going well. 

[colinneil]

9 minutes ago, jimmyyy said:

has not stopped raining here in Borabue for 5 minutes in the last 48 hours, in other news the wood collection for my party Ark is not going well. 

Just the same here mate, rained again all night.

Yesterday my wife took me to Banphai hospital, driving into Banphai was heart breaking seeing all the people living under all kinds of home made shelters on the road side on higher ground.

[faraday]

Didn't rain here during the day, but at around 6:30 last night there was a thunderstorm, & gusts of cold wind for 45 minutes, then it all stopped.

 

Started raining at 2am, doesn't look like it'll stop.

 

 

[Speedo1968]

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

Just the same here mate, rained again all night.

Yesterday my wife took me to Banphai hospital, driving into Banphai was heart breaking seeing all the people living under all kinds of home made shelters on the road side on higher ground.

 

I live on Nonsawang one of the main flooded areas.    No exit for 2 days after the rains even then only by a very circuitous route via one road.

No sign of there having been any form of help ( refuge / food  ) at the main temple or others or schools during the first 2 days, even on Monday - not sure about the churches.   On Tuesday and Wednesday only shelter - for some - was available at the main temple.    If should be "all hands to the wheel",

Mans intervention with nature by filling natural ponds with building and other debris aggravated the flooding in one area.     Water 2 - 4 metres high.

Help arrived from Chaiyaphum and Korat, I live on Nonsawang and local clinic was helping out with cooked food 3 times a day.

Last few days main school area near the big temple has many help services available.

I am thankful for / to all those agencies / places that did help and especially now those from the refuse collection departments.

[mahtin]

Hoping to drive from Khon Kaen to Korat tomorrow.

Tried last Saturday but was turned back by police road block at Ban Phae.

 

Can anyone confirm that traffic can get through now?

[bkkcanuck8]

34 minutes ago, mahtin said:

Hoping to drive from Khon Kaen to Korat tomorrow.

Tried last Saturday but was turned back by police road block at Ban Phae.

 

Can anyone confirm that traffic can get through now?

Cannot confirm the current state, but took the bus up to Khon Kaen last Sunday, then back on Monday... no problems at that time... slight detour (lane change for a couple kilometers) on the way up (on one of the rural milk run dropoffs), but nothing on the way back.  (so after the time you were turned back).