Why does Pattaya get flooded so easily?

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, JensenZ said:

Finally a sensible answer. There are no pipes big enough to drain that much water quickly enough to prevent flooding. Some years the streets hardly flood at all. This month it happened more often than usual. It's better than having empty damns, like in 2020. If not for covid and no tourists, there would have been very serious water shortages. Better we have water and suffer a few flash floods from time to time.

Better we have big enough pipes

[Peterw42]

Pattaya is in the tropics, and most of Pattaya is flat and just above sea level. It will flood no matter what  infrastructure is in place. At a certain point any infrastructure will be overwhelmed. If a road is 1 meter above sea-level and you install a 2 meter wide pipe, there is no fall and the water cant go anywhere.

It doesnt take much to understand this concept, But it gets reported on every year as though its a new phenomenon, and every year the usual commentary about fixing it.

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Peterw42

[jacko45k]

On 9/22/2022 at 4:41 PM, scubascuba3 said:

Buakhao is a classic example, when they put drainage in a few years ago the pipes were obviously too narrow, diameter of 12 inches, they are either very thick or just don't want to fix the problem 

I always suspect they want to do it on the cheap.... or some jobsworth 'saves' money by reducing the spec of the project...ie for smaller pipes, a few million cheaper, one for you, three for me. 

Edited September 25, 2022 by jacko45k

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Mmmmm, ????

That's debatable. 

 

I could stand up in the round pipe, not sure if I could stand up in the square. 

 

Maybe our knowledgeable members can make comment. 

 

Would it be possible to put a square drain (peg) in a round drain (hole)?

When they laid the drains in Chonburi the guys were walking about inside with several inches to spare. I suspect they are 2 metres with Thais being a bit on the short side.

Even if your round pipe was 2 metre diameter the cross sectional area would be nearly 25% less.

 

Drains come in all shapes and sizes, only thing that counts is being fit for purpose.

https://www.123rf.com/photo_97819015_empty-big-drain-near-the-road-at-thailand.html

[Iamfalang]

Everybody know answer and say say BIG HOLE  BIG PIPE  you must do BIG PIPE BIG HOLE OK OK you OK?

 

answer is always the same:  You want big pipe and hole?   Soi 63.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Iamfalang

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

When they laid the drains in Chonburi the guys were walking about inside with several inches to spare. I suspect they are 2 metres with Thais being a bit on the short side.

Even if your round pipe was 2 metre diameter the cross sectional area would be nearly 25% less.

 

Drains come in all shapes and sizes, only thing that counts is being fit for purpose.

https://www.123rf.com/photo_97819015_empty-big-drain-near-the-road-at-thailand.html

We need to calculate, e=mc²

 

 

[scubascuba3]

23 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

We need to calculate, e=mc²

 

 

They should have calculated the diameter of drains required then x2, there wouldn't of been any problem

[PoorSucker]

Personally I blame the rain. 

[Andycoops]

Simple, because Thai water engineers don't understand how to engineer water solutions.

[morrobay]

[morrobay]

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/beach-road-drainage-pipe-installation-to-begin-in-june-47271   But they forgot to include inline permanent pumps.  Photos next post above Soi6  And North end.  From the link in this post note that major project with 2m diameter pipes going from sump at soi6 and over 1km out into bay failed.  So all this retro work and portable pumps. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by morrobay

[thaibeachlovers]

On 9/24/2022 at 2:55 PM, sandyf said:

Many years ago Chonburi city was much the same as Pattaya, until they put in these drains. 

I see them now being put on the main road between Chonburi and Bang Saen.

That's what I'm talking about. Put them down all the sois leading to Beach Rd, with a machine to remove debris at the bottom and carry on out to sea. Problem solved

[thaibeachlovers]

On 9/25/2022 at 1:40 PM, Peterw42 said:

Pattaya is in the tropics, and most of Pattaya is flat and just above sea level. It will flood no matter what  infrastructure is in place. At a certain point any infrastructure will be overwhelmed. If a road is 1 meter above sea-level and you install a 2 meter wide pipe, there is no fall and the water cant go anywhere.

It doesnt take much to understand this concept, But it gets reported on every year as though its a new phenomenon, and every year the usual commentary about fixing it.

 

???? As long as the top of the pipe is level with or below the level of the road the water must flow out.

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

???? As long as the top of the pipe is level with or below the level of the road the water must flow out.

Exactly. Flooding in a built up area is nothing more than excess surface water.   If that water can find a way to capacity below the surface it will take it.

Historically access to capacity below the surface has been by horizontal grids on the surface which are prone to partial blockage reducing the effectiveness of what capacity has been available.

In the new drainage systems I have seen the grids have been vertical built into the kerb with more of them, making blockage a lot less likely and much faster drainage.

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That's what I'm talking about. Put them down all the sois leading to Beach Rd, with a machine to remove debris at the bottom and carry on out to sea. Problem solved

Yes, the cables should be buried and the pavement fixed on Klang soon, so a new digging up project is needed.

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 9/24/2022 at 1:40 PM, SAFETY FIRST said:

They used these huge pipes in the Avenue. 

 

Regularly soi Buakaow and it's feeder soi go under water. 

The next day after a storm I see the shop owner cleaning up. 

 

This item would come in handy. 

 

[Leaver]

On 9/24/2022 at 6:40 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

They used these huge pipes in the Avenue. 

 

 

These are the pipes I posted about some time ago.  I saw them on 2nd Road.

 

When they buried them behind The Avenue, it disrupted business for weeks.  Noise of heavy machinery, and mud everywhere. 

 

If they decide they have to put these pipes under Soi Pothole, Baukhao, Honey etc, it will look like a war zone weeks, if not months. 

 

They could have done it during covid, but no. 

[Leaver]

On 9/24/2022 at 7:05 AM, scubascuba3 said:

They laid similar on beach road, at least half blocked by the time work was finished

 

Blocked with what?  Rubbish, or sand / soil?  These pipes are big.  You can walk through them. 

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

 

Blocked with what?  Rubbish, or sand / soil?  These pipes are big.  You can walk through them. 

blocked with sand, can't walk down them if blocked

[Leaver]

9 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

blocked with sand, can't walk down them if blocked

 

Those pipes are very large.  There would be a considerable flow of water through them during big storms.  There would be enough flow to move sand, if they have some "fall." 

 

They must have really messed it up if pipes that size are completely blocked with sand. 

[thaibeachlovers]

8 hours ago, Leaver said:

They must have really messed it up if pipes that size are completely blocked with sand. 

Never underestimate their ability to ............................................

[Leaver]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Never underestimate their ability to ............................................

 

If they haven't properly installed pipes that size to adequately transport storm water, all hope to stop flooding here is lost.

[SAFETY FIRST]

11 hours ago, Leaver said:

They must have really messed it up if pipes that size are completely blocked with sand.

I reckon it's a bottle neck issue.

 

It's the big pipes feeding into the smaller pipes down stream. 

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

Those pipes are very large.  There would be a considerable flow of water through them during big storms.  There would be enough flow to move sand, if they have some "fall." 

 

They must have really messed it up if pipes that size are completely blocked with sand. 

The problem as I see it is they divert water from bottom of sois on Beach Rd along the road which allows sand and other debris to settle. If they continued the drains straight out to sea from bottom of each soi the pressure of water would indeed keep the pipes clear.

[Leaver]

30 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The problem as I see it is they divert water from bottom of sois on Beach Rd along the road which allows sand and other debris to settle. If they continued the drains straight out to sea from bottom of each soi the pressure of water would indeed keep the pipes clear.

 

That's exactly what I thought they were doing.  Obviously not. 

[Leaver]

33 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I reckon it's a bottle neck issue.

 

It's the big pipes feeding into the smaller pipes down stream. 

 

As another member has said, that appears to be the case.  They need the big pipes straight out to sea. 

[USEpat]

I was just in Chiang Rai for four days, three of which had steady rain, sometimes torrential.  Plenty of curbs, plenty of streets, no flooding whatsoever.  Pattaya is weird, torential rain for an hour or less (not three days) and the place is rivers and lakes.  Go figure.

[PoorSucker]

Don't go to central Pattaya today (Sunday Oct 9th). 

Total chaos because of the flooding. 

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Don't go to central Pattaya today (Sunday Oct 9th). 

Total chaos because of the flooding. 

Yes bad today, i was trapped on Buakhao, surrounded by flooded roads, decided to wait for the water to drop a bit

[Leaver]

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yes bad today, i was trapped on Buakhao, surrounded by flooded roads, decided to wait for the water to drop a bit

 

That water level isn't exactly what I would cal "trapped."  Perhaps that's what you told the missus.  ????