Dr. Seri Warns of Flood Risks from Storm Soulik: Over 70% Severity Predicted

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On September 20, 2024, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seri Supratid, Director of the Climate Change and Disaster Center at Rangsit University and Vice President of the National Disaster Warning Council Foundation, shared an urgent flood risk update on Facebook regarding "Storm Soulik."

 

He highlighted areas at high risk of heavy rainfall with more than 70% severity, which could pose serious threats to life and property.

 

According to Dr. Seri, the Water Crisis Relief Team, Civil Society, and the National Disaster Warning Council Foundation have updated their forecasts. Various provinces face potential flooding, with different areas becoming vulnerable on specific days.

 

People living in areas marked in blue on the flood risk maps should remain alert and prepared for possible emergencies.

Dr. Seri’s team, in collaboration with ESRI, has developed a high-resolution flood simulation model specifically for urban communities in Nong Khai, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, and Lampang. Residents in blue or purple zones are advised to stay vigilant and monitor local weather updates.

 

“We cannot afford further losses,” Dr. Seri urged, calling for readiness and cooperation. Communities requiring assistance from the Water Crisis Relief Team can reach out to Mr. Noppadol Makthong at 099-0288333.

 

Source: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seri Supratid, expert on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Chairman of the Executive Board of Futuretales LAB, MQDC.

 

TOP picture courtesy: Siam Rath

 

-- 2024-09-21

 

[John Drake]

When the Shins are in power, Thailand seems to get catastrophic floods. 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, John Drake said:

When the Shins are in power, Thailand seems to get catastrophic floods. 

I different kind of reign?

[John Drake]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

I different kind of reign?

 

Yep. As soon as they took up the reins of government.

[hotchilli]

7 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

Yep. As soon as they took up the reins of government.

Nice

[connda]

It never floods this time of year.  This year is different.  Melting icecaps are causing massive flooding in Thailand for the first time in recorded history. 

🙈 "Eek!"

[CallumWK]

6 minutes ago, connda said:

It never floods this time of year.

 

I assume you arrived the other day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Thailand_floods

[watchcat]

4 hours ago, John Drake said:

When the Shins are in power, Thailand seems to get catastrophic floods. 

 

The weather gods doesn't seem to like them, and they're not alone.

 

 

[Kerryd]

It's a cycle.

Every couple of years we get massive rains and flooding.

Followed by a couple years where they have to warn farmers to not plant a second crop because the water levels in the reservoirs are too low.

Followed by a couple years of Bangkok and central Thailand flooding, Pattaya flooding, reservoirs having to release more water as they're are too full.

Followed by (repeat over and over again).

I recall on year before covid when it rained so much that the drains in my village were under 30cms of water - and I'm way up soi Khao Noi.
Normally, even in a heavy monsoon, the water wouldn't start back-flowing from the drains and onto the road until it was around the "level" area by the 7-11 next to the Mike Orchard Villa housing development.

But that year I was getting nervous. I lived just over halfway up my "soi" and the water was getting deeper.
And then the rain stopped and 3 hours later you could hardly tell it rained - except at the storm grates at the bottom of Khao Noi which were nearly plugged with garbage of course.

And then a couple years later - we were having water cut-offs on alternating days and reduced pressure on the "water" days because the water levels were so low. (That was just before Covid.)

I remember the water situation was so bad that the gov't was considering building pipelines from other reservoirs to bring water to the ones in the Pattaya area.

Same time some numpty came up with the idea to pump all the rain water from the sewers and klongs and send it back to the reservoirs.

Never mind how contaminated and polluted that water would have been.

It was lucky (in a way) when the Covid crisis hit because suddenly the demand for water dropped massively as the hotels, laundries, car washes, restaurants and other huge drains on the water system all had to close.

And - just like the leaky roof - instead of doing something about the problem when the reservoirs were low and there were no tourists, they did nothing.

Because when it's not raining, the roof isn't leaking. And when it's raining - you can't fix the roof !

So when there's no demand on the water, there's no need to fix the problem. But when there's a huge demand on the water, they can't shut anything down to try and fix the problem.

Like how they waited to tear up Walking Street and start putting in new drainage pipes in 2022 - after they started letting tourists back into the country !

They had 1 1/2 YEARS to do the project when the entire street was shut down and there was no traffic.

I had to howl when it was shown in the media that they'd started work on tearing up the street - and then had to stop because they'd found some "old pipes" already there and had no idea what they were or "who owned" them. (Seriously - they had stop working and investigate it and found out - the pipes didn't belong to the city but the Ministry of Science and Technology or something weird like that.)

And what those old pipes were was the PREVIOUS drainage system that the city had installed in the summer of 1998. The same time they laid those nice paving blocks down instead of a cement or asphalt surface.

Seems no one check with the city Engineering department (if they even have one) to see what was under the street before they started tearing it up.

(I was here twice in 1998. In February everything was normal. Came back in July and half of Walking Street was torn up as they installed a new drainage system and then covered it with those paving blocks.)

But they did a good job and it hardly ever flooded down there. I remember sitting in a hamburger stall near the "big Buddha tree" during one monsoon in late July. Within minutes the street was covered in water almost level with the "sidewalk" but not over it.
An hour later - everything was dry except for a couple puddles on some side sois.

But no worries. In a year or two the news will be all about how Thailand is having a "mini-drought" and everyone needs to conserve water. (Again.)