Samui Declared Disaster Zone After Heavy Rain

[highdiver]

Actually, highdiver, no complaints from last year about flooding, mainly because it didn't rain! However, you will then find subsequent posts about drought, so there you go. Take your pick, flood or drought?

actually it did rain and it sis flood.

on decemebr 6th. they even had a name for it. it was called the durian monsoon. it was not long as this year but it was still flodding the same spots as this year.

As for taking a pick of flood or drought...

have a look at this very good post from last year..

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=992893

[sbk]

Still agree with what I posted. In November 1997 my parents came to visit and it was heavy downpours for the entire month of November. I do not recall reading of the catastrophic flooding then like I see now.

[highdiver]

Still agree with what I posted. In November 1997 my parents came to visit and it was heavy downpours for the entire month of November. I do not recall reading of the catastrophic flooding then like I see now.

well we dont need to go back to 1997...here is a nice sample from 2005 2 years ago.

[southwest19]

every year the same...nothing has changed.

every year the monsoon comes. every year it floods.

every year the new residents are shocked by the floding.

every year the same arguments from TV members who know better how to solve the problem...

every year the same complaints about land erosion, over development, construction controll...

every year the same "surprise" when the airport closes down.

it will be the same in future years...because.... when 200mm of rain downpour in leass then 24 hours and it goes on for 2 weeks. it floods. ans it does not matter how many drains you put in it will still flood.

Los Angeles has a huge drain system to drain the floods in the LA river but when it rains so heavily they too have floods.

when you live in the route of a monsoon it will happen. some years less some years more but it will allways happen.

you can allways take comfort that the garden looks great

have a look at posts from 2004

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21130

and posts drom 2005

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51361

Last year was very mild.

I am sure if we had a drainage system as good as LA it would not here flood here with the rains we have experienced over the last two weeks.

Based on your arguement there is not actually any point updating the public infrastructure as it will flood anyway whatever you do.

Not sure you arguement will hold much water with Samui residents!

[highdiver]

every year the same...nothing has changed.

every year the monsoon comes. every year it floods.

every year the new residents are shocked by the floding.

every year the same arguments from TV members who know better how to solve the problem...

every year the same complaints about land erosion, over development, construction controll...

every year the same "surprise" when the airport closes down.

it will be the same in future years...because.... when 200mm of rain downpour in leass then 24 hours and it goes on for 2 weeks. it floods. ans it does not matter how many drains you put in it will still flood.

Los Angeles has a huge drain system to drain the floods in the LA river but when it rains so heavily they too have floods.

when you live in the route of a monsoon it will happen. some years less some years more but it will allways happen.

you can allways take comfort that the garden looks great

have a look at posts from 2004

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21130

and posts drom 2005

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51361

Last year was very mild.

I am sure if we had a drainage system as good as LA it would not here flood here with the rains we have experienced over the last two weeks.

Based on your arguement there is not actually any point updating the public infrastructure as it will flood anyway whatever you do.

Not sure you arguement will hold much water with Samui residents!

I am a samui resident for the past 9 years.

and the public infrastructure has come a long way since then.

unfortunately when it rains as it did this year and in previous years it will flood. even if they upgrade the drain it will still flood.

even if they add pumps as they did this year it will still flood. its just to much water at one time.

you can see how the public infrastructure has improved by the amount of time it clears up when it stops raining.

few years ago it would have taken days for the flood to clear now it a matter of hours.

[southwest19]

every year the same...nothing has changed.

every year the monsoon comes. every year it floods.

every year the new residents are shocked by the floding.

every year the same arguments from TV members who know better how to solve the problem...

every year the same complaints about land erosion, over development, construction controll...

every year the same "surprise" when the airport closes down.

it will be the same in future years...because.... when 200mm of rain downpour in leass then 24 hours and it goes on for 2 weeks. it floods. ans it does not matter how many drains you put in it will still flood.

Los Angeles has a huge drain system to drain the floods in the LA river but when it rains so heavily they too have floods.

when you live in the route of a monsoon it will happen. some years less some years more but it will allways happen.

you can allways take comfort that the garden looks great

have a look at posts from 2004

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21130

and posts drom 2005

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51361

Last year was very mild.

I am sure if we had a drainage system as good as LA it would not here flood here with the rains we have experienced over the last two weeks.

Based on your arguement there is not actually any point updating the public infrastructure as it will flood anyway whatever you do.

Not sure you arguement will hold much water with Samui residents!

I am a samui resident for the past 9 years.

and the public infrastructure has come a long way since then.

unfortunately when it rains as it did this year and in previous years it will flood. even if they upgrade the drain it will still flood.

even if they add pumps as they did this year it will still flood. its just to much water at one time.

you can see how the public infrastructure has improved by the amount of time it clears up when it stops raining.

few years ago it would have taken days for the flood to clear now it a matter of hours.

I think you are in a minority of one if you think the samui roads and drains have greatly improved over the last nine years most people are of the opinion the roads are as about as bad as they have ever been and I first came here nearly 20 years ago.

It does not help though that development has been allowed on flood plains with no thought about where all that water will go.

Incidently it has not rained all afternoon why don't you pop down the lake road or Laem din and have a look it still lokks flooded to me.

[lazeeboy]

Still agree with what I posted. In November 1997 my parents came to visit and it was heavy downpours for the entire month of November. I do not recall reading of the catastrophic flooding then like I see now.

sbk ,i remember that flood ,i think it was worse than now ,in those days the lake road was a mud track and lamdin was just that lamdin ,it still flooded without the buildings ...

[ideaman]

HA HA HA....just wonderful!!

I have lived 5 years in Pattaya. Everytimg there is heavy rain all the streets are flooding!

I lived 4 years in Phuket. Same same....one evening I was at Bangla Road....it started raining....and it rained all evening. When I was ready to go home, ALL the streets in and near Rat U Thit Road, Beach Road and Bangla Road was flooded and there was some 100 cm high water in the streets. My motorbike drowned and I had to walk 5 kilometer outside the town to get hold of a tuktuk to drive me home!

Now this happens in Koh Samui!

What is wrong with the infrastructure in these places??

I have now lived in Sichon Beach, on the mainland just opposite Koh Samui.

We got all the same rain here...but we have NO FLOODING.

All our roads and resorts works just fine!

So maybe you tourists and residents who are tired of all the flooding should consider the same as I have done?

RELOCATE TO SICHON! And by the way, Sichon is very very affordable compared to Koh Samui. 1 rai of beachfront land here costs only around 1.2 million baht...compared to 20 or 30 million baht per rai in Samui !

[sbk]

Nakhon si Thammarat has been declared a disaster zone. Last reports were that Kanchandit , Don Sak and Khiri Rat Nikhom were heavily flooded.

Perhaps some sympathy for those affected rather than gloating is in order.

[lazeeboy]

Nakhon si Thammarat has been declared a disaster zone. Last reports were that Kanchandit , Don Sak and Khiri Rat Nikhom were heavily flooded.

Perhaps some sympathy for those affected rather than gloating is in order.

well said sbk ,many of us will be spending fortunes on repairs after this ,money most aint got

[sbk]

HA HA HA....just wonderful!!

I have lived 5 years in Pattaya. Everytimg there is heavy rain all the streets are flooding!

I lived 4 years in Phuket. Same same....one evening I was at Bangla Road....it started raining....and it rained all evening. When I was ready to go home, ALL the streets in and near Rat U Thit Road, Beach Road and Bangla Road was flooded and there was some 100 cm high water in the streets. My motorbike drowned and I had to walk 5 kilometer outside the town to get hold of a tuktuk to drive me home!

Now this happens in Koh Samui!

What is wrong with the infrastructure in these places??

I have now lived in Sichon Beach, on the mainland just opposite Koh Samui.

We got all the same rain here...but we have NO FLOODING.

All our roads and resorts works just fine!

So maybe you tourists and residents who are tired of all the flooding should consider the same as I have done?

RELOCATE TO SICHON! And by the way, Sichon is very very affordable compared to Koh Samui. 1 rai of beachfront land here costs only around 1.2 million baht...compared to 20 or 30 million baht per rai in Samui !

Ideaman, perhaps you should read this story in the Southern Thailand forum, Nakhon declared a Disaster area thread:

School closed in Sichon due to flooding

[george]

Stranded passengers transferred to Bangkok

KOH SAMUI: -- Bangkok Airways has completed transferring all its stranded passengers from Koh Samui to Bangkok, following the heavy floods that forced it to shut down Samui Airport on November 7. The airline which operates the airport said that as of 5.55am today, all passengers had been transferred out of the island.

Bangkok Airways said in a statement that at midnight of Thursday, it asked for the Civil Aviation Department's permission to reopen the airport to facilitate travellers who had been stranded on the island since November 7.

During the floods, it had cancelled a total of 18 BangkokSamui flights.

-- The Nation 2007-11-09

[Mystery]

"

Two years ago Thaksin sent his minister down on a glorified publicity stunt where he promised 2 billion baht to rectify the problem. In reality 110 million baht was allocated and spent mostly on drains in Lamai and Bophut."

Very interesting, so I wonder who will be sent down this year... Samui will not last long like this for sure, granted Global Warming is having an effect on weather everywhere, but the real estate market, with its easy licensing laws is definitely having an effect here and greedy Thai's who collect money for public purposes and pocket it instead of using it to improve the islands infrastructure will soon make Samui inhabitable and not the island with the beautiful tourist destination image which is slowly but surely being killed bit by bit. Anyone noticed, even when the sun is shining this island looks like a rubbish dump in SO many places... it doesn't matter how beautiful the villa, what's the point if you can't leave your luxury villa to do some other things once in a while on your holiday... I feel really, really sad for Samui, I hope its not too late!

[Mystery]

all these discussions as to whether its the incredible rain, or the development which has cut down trees, or development in wrong areas, or lack or drainage... Can't anyone see its all of these things together which create this situation... As one person says it floods in LA also and they have good drains, and the East Coast of England has huge tidal wave warnings at the moment.

Samui requires help in many aspects, the island needs to be surveyed as to the water situation, where does the water run naturally etc then you can plan development properly and drainage properly... Perhaps developers should be made to put in their own drainage, part of receiving a license to build... the drainage should be to specifications stipulated by the Thesabaan who will have done the survey... There will still be floods but if public drainage was taken care of by the Thesabaan and private developers, business owners and such held responsible for private drainage and generally a city plan was made for the island surely it would improve?

Ok, so its asking a lot of the Thesabaan to stop putting the money in their pockets and actually use high quality materials to fix the roads and existing drains which last longer than a week... Also a professional survey needs to be done, and money needs to be invested in this... Surely everyone can see the huge potential that Koh Samui has and where its going now... Why not save it for future money to be earnt rather than making your money over the next possible five years and then just a rubbish dump for an island...

I think it will always flood, but it can be better than this, global warming will affect all countries eventually and disasters will happen everywhere that we'd never expected but we can make it easier on ourselves...

I guess the big question is just can the Thesabaan manage this and do they want to?

I hope for the future of Samui, its people, children and visitors they do!!

[LaoPo]

Still agree with what I posted. In November 1997 my parents came to visit and it was heavy downpours for the entire month of November. I do not recall reading of the catastrophic flooding then like I see now.

That could have been because of several reasons:

1. Internet has grown immensely in 10 years, since '97 - also in Thailand: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm#asia

In 2000 there were some 2.3M internet users in Thailand but that must have been a lot lower in '97.

So, people report and witness more and more and above all, faster & easier, since Internet. On top of that, also newspapers are reporting a lot faster since Internet.

We have to remember that Internet -WWW- only started real growth in the mid '90's. (although invented much earlier)

I, for instance, was a slow starter, in the 1st half of 2003...

2. Tourism has grown also drastically but the majority of tourists never buy local -read: Bangkok- -English- newspapers; they stick to their home-country papers, if available.

3. Thaivisa didn't exist, back in '97

LaoPo

[tornado40]

every year the same...nothing has changed.

every year the monsoon comes. every year it floods.

every year the new residents are shocked by the floding.

every year the same arguments from TV members who know better how to solve the problem...

every year the same complaints about land erosion, over development, construction controll...

every year the same "surprise" when the airport closes down.

it will be the same in future years...because.... when 200mm of rain downpour in leass then 24 hours and it goes on for 2 weeks. it floods. ans it does not matter how many drains you put in it will still flood.

Los Angeles has a huge drain system to drain the floods in the LA river but when it rains so heavily they too have floods.

when you live in the route of a monsoon it will happen. some years less some years more but it will allways happen.

you can allways take comfort that the garden looks great

have a look at posts from 2004

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21130

and posts drom 2005

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51361

Last year was very mild.

I am sure if we had a drainage system as good as LA it would not here flood here with the rains we have experienced over the last two weeks.

Based on your arguement there is not actually any point updating the public infrastructure as it will flood anyway whatever you do.

Not sure you arguement will hold much water with Samui residents!

I am a samui resident for the past 9 years.

and the public infrastructure has come a long way since then.

unfortunately when it rains as it did this year and in previous years it will flood. even if they upgrade the drain it will still flood.

even if they add pumps as they did this year it will still flood. its just to much water at one time.

you can see how the public infrastructure has improved by the amount of time it clears up when it stops raining.

few years ago it would have taken days for the flood to clear now it a matter of hours.

I think you are in a minority of one if you think the samui roads and drains have greatly improved over the last nine years most people are of the opinion the roads are as about as bad as they have ever been and I first came here nearly 20 years ago.

It does not help though that development has been allowed on flood plains with no thought about where all that water will go.

Incidently it has not rained all afternoon why don't you pop down the lake road or Laem din and have a look it still lokks flooded to me.

Then I'm in the minority - have just come back from Samui after 1 month (out of my 3 monthly trips per year) and can say that compared to 2005 the water is draining away much quicker than in 2005.

I know this time of year is bad - but it's the tropics - what ever they do it won't get any better

Best to just sit it out - and wait for the UK winter (Samui at it's best)

[southwest19]

every year the same...nothing has changed.

every year the monsoon comes. every year it floods.

every year the new residents are shocked by the floding.

every year the same arguments from TV members who know better how to solve the problem...

every year the same complaints about land erosion, over development, construction controll...

every year the same "surprise" when the airport closes down.

it will be the same in future years...because.... when 200mm of rain downpour in leass then 24 hours and it goes on for 2 weeks. it floods. ans it does not matter how many drains you put in it will still flood.

Los Angeles has a huge drain system to drain the floods in the LA river but when it rains so heavily they too have floods.

when you live in the route of a monsoon it will happen. some years less some years more but it will allways happen.

you can allways take comfort that the garden looks great

have a look at posts from 2004

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21130

and posts drom 2005

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51361

Last year was very mild.

I am sure if we had a drainage system as good as LA it would not here flood here with the rains we have experienced over the last two weeks.

Based on your arguement there is not actually any point updating the public infrastructure as it will flood anyway whatever you do.

Not sure you arguement will hold much water with Samui residents!

I am a samui resident for the past 9 years.

and the public infrastructure has come a long way since then.

unfortunately when it rains as it did this year and in previous years it will flood. even if they upgrade the drain it will still flood.

even if they add pumps as they did this year it will still flood. its just to much water at one time.

you can see how the public infrastructure has improved by the amount of time it clears up when it stops raining.

few years ago it would have taken days for the flood to clear now it a matter of hours.

I think you are in a minority of one if you think the samui roads and drains have greatly improved over the last nine years most people are of the opinion the roads are as about as bad as they have ever been and I first came here nearly 20 years ago.

It does not help though that development has been allowed on flood plains with no thought about where all that water will go.

Incidently it has not rained all afternoon why don't you pop down the lake road or Laem din and have a look it still lokks flooded to me.

Then I'm in the minority - have just come back from Samui after 1 month (out of my 3 monthly trips per year) and can say that compared to 2005 the water is draining away much quicker than in 2005.

I know this time of year is bad - but it's the tropics - what ever they do it won't get any better

Best to just sit it out - and wait for the UK winter (Samui at it's best)

Based on your rather limited knowledge of Samui i.e. you do not live here and the only benchmark you can use is 2005 I think your aguement of doing nothing is absurd at least Highdiver talks from 9 years experience though I do not agree with everything he says.

Of course when you get extreme weather conditions you are always going to have problems but I think most people would agree that measures can be taken to improve the situation i.e. better roads and drainage and I think you will indeed be in a tiny minority if your view is do nothing as the infrastructure we have is perfectly adequate and it will happen anyway.

[jeztennis]

hi

i havent made many posts and i have been in samui for only two months however i feel that compared to previous visits the roads are getting worse, e.g. the ghost road, also the ring road is starting to break up in places, i also heard that for city status samui needs 120 more residents however a lot of thais who live on samui register themselves as living on the mainland so they can send their kids to school there, i dont know if it is because it is cheaper or they can get rid of them for a week at a time, but it seems that in thailand as in many countries promises are made and broken action is seen to be taken and then slowly withdrawn and it is just a pity that tourists are having their holidays spoilt and probably seriously considering whether samui is a future destination for them, the government and the local authorities need to realise that there are millions of people who survive on the tourism this country produces not just the people living on samui and they need to spend money where tourism is most popular but spend it wisely and do the job properly, a 4 inch deep metal and concrete road is not going to last very long with all the heavy traffic, spend a bit more do the job properly and see samui rise from its self destructive ashes.

i thank you

[lazeeboy]

hi

i havent made many posts and i have been in samui for only two months however i feel that compared to previous visits the roads are getting worse, e.g. the ghost road, also the ring road is starting to break up in places, i also heard that for city status samui needs 120 more residents however a lot of thais who live on samui register themselves as living on the mainland so they can send their kids to school there, i dont know if it is because it is cheaper or they can get rid of them for a week at a time, but it seems that in thailand as in many countries promises are made and broken action is seen to be taken and then slowly withdrawn and it is just a pity that tourists are having their holidays spoilt and probably seriously considering whether samui is a future destination for them, the government and the local authorities need to realise that there are millions of people who survive on the tourism this country produces not just the people living on samui and they need to spend money where tourism is most popular but spend it wisely and do the job properly, a 4 inch deep metal and concrete road is not going to last very long with all the heavy traffic, spend a bit more do the job properly and see samui rise from its self destructive ashes.

i thank you

it has'nt rained here now for 24 or so hours ,the floods have receded much quicker than previous years ,so the work done on the drainage since the last big flood (2005) seems to have worked ,i take my hat off to the workers who did this work with very little money supplied by the tight wads of surattani ,everywhere i have been today was almost flood free,in a couple of days without rain it will be as if there was'nt any rain ............

[Xidi]

it has'nt rained here now for 24 or so hours ,the floods have receded much quicker than previous years ,so the work done on the drainage since the last big flood (2005) seems to have worked ,i take my hat off to the workers who did this work with very little money supplied by the tight wads of surattani ,everywhere i have been today was almost flood free,in a couple of days without rain it will be as if there was'nt any rain ............

i agree with you 100%. Obviously there has been done something since 2005. Otherwise the damage would have been worse.

[Mystery]

Below is a copy of a bit of an article on Sky News which shows that Global Warming is affecting places everywhere, even the most developed countries and authorities everywhere are patching up problems rather than spending the money to really fix the situation well and prepare for the worse weather. Just thought it might be interesting...

'Sea Defences Smashed To Oblivion'

By Roger Collier, Dunwich resident, Updated:12:35, Friday November 09, 2007

"The shingle bank, that has protected Dunwich from the North Sea has been

breached for the second time in the last 12 months and water is pouring over the

fields and into gardens.

But the question villagers are now asking is what happens when the waters

subside.

For years they have been battling the authorities to provide adequate sea

defences. And for years these authorities have spent pocket money patching up

what nature has provided."

[southwest19]

Below is a copy of a bit of an article on Sky News which shows that Global Warming is affecting places everywhere, even the most developed countries and authorities everywhere are patching up problems rather than spending the money to really fix the situation well and prepare for the worse weather. Just thought it might be interesting...

'Sea Defences Smashed To Oblivion'

By Roger Collier, Dunwich resident, Updated:12:35, Friday November 09, 2007

"The shingle bank, that has protected Dunwich from the North Sea has been

breached for the second time in the last 12 months and water is pouring over the

fields and into gardens.

But the question villagers are now asking is what happens when the waters

subside.

For years they have been battling the authorities to provide adequate sea

defences. And for years these authorities have spent pocket money patching up

what nature has provided."

I wondered how long it would be before someone bought up the subject of global warming once it was called bad weather before the poiliticians saw an opportunity to tax everyone to the hilt in the name of saving polar bears and the planet.

Lets get this straight we are not talking about freak tidal surges in the North Sea we are talking about the roads and peoples houses getting flooded when it rains.

[lazeeboy]

Below is a copy of a bit of an article on Sky News which shows that Global Warming is affecting places everywhere, even the most developed countries and authorities everywhere are patching up problems rather than spending the money to really fix the situation well and prepare for the worse weather. Just thought it might be interesting...

'Sea Defences Smashed To Oblivion'

By Roger Collier, Dunwich resident, Updated:12:35, Friday November 09, 2007

"The shingle bank, that has protected Dunwich from the North Sea has been

breached for the second time in the last 12 months and water is pouring over the

fields and into gardens.

But the question villagers are now asking is what happens when the waters

subside.

For years they have been battling the authorities to provide adequate sea

defences. And for years these authorities have spent pocket money patching up

what nature has provided."

the flooding had nothing to do with the sea ,as of this morning you'd not known it had been raining ,roads are dry the sun is out and its hot

[OurManinSamui2008]

Below is a copy of a bit of an article on Sky News which shows that Global Warming is affecting places everywhere, even the most developed countries and authorities everywhere are patching up problems rather than spending the money to really fix the situation well and prepare for the worse weather. Just thought it might be interesting...

'Sea Defences Smashed To Oblivion'

By Roger Collier, Dunwich resident, Updated:12:35, Friday November 09, 2007

"The shingle bank, that has protected Dunwich from the North Sea has been

breached for the second time in the last 12 months and water is pouring over the

fields and into gardens.

But the question villagers are now asking is what happens when the waters

subside.

For years they have been battling the authorities to provide adequate sea

defences. And for years these authorities have spent pocket money patching up

what nature has provided."

I wondered how long it would be before someone bought up the subject of global warming once it was called bad weather before the poiliticians saw an opportunity to tax everyone to the hilt in the name of saving polar bears and the planet.

Lets get this straight we are not talking about freak tidal surges in the North Sea we are talking about the roads and peoples houses getting flooded when it rains.

Well maybe global warming but, IT EFFECTS EVERY ONE WORLD WIDE, the problems will not go away as in the drainage the collapsed roads/bridges etc...Here in Samui.....

But on the weather thingy I have a friend who works in the BBC metrological office/ advisor etc this is wee caption on the Nino subject, which does effect Asia in general.....

Most important factor is the El Nino / La Nina oscillation which no doubt you have heard about. It involves an equatorial ocean current in the Pacific which switches between east-flowing and west-flowing. El Nino is east-flowing, and La Nina is west-flowing. The ocean currents are driven by the winds, so a La Nina, for instance, also brings a westerly airflow across the Pacific. It's not really an oscillation, as there is nothing particularly regular about it, and it can be in any one of five phases: Strong El Nino, weak El Nino, Neutral, weak La Nina and strong La Nina. A La Nina (west flowing) delivers copious amounts of very warm and very moist air from the Pacific to Indonesia, and when it is particularly strong this also affects SE Asia. We have a moderately strong La Nina at the moment which one would certainly expect to result in above-average rainfall over a large area from Papua-New Guinea to Malaysia and Thailand. Forecasting these things is fraught with difficulty.....

So if you can understand that it gives us well hope for December!!!

Ciao

[hewi150]

Surely there is an impact of global enviromental problems on Samui.

Surely the draining system has improved.

Surely there were floodings in the past and will be in the future.

I read too many excuses on why it is flooding and why nothing can be done against it ... just sit it out.

Samui has some serious flooding problems which are homemade (as I said before) and there are things that can be done quite easily to avoid the floodings to a certain degree. Still, people who cause the problems find easy excuses to tell everybody it is neither avoidable nor necessary to do anything.

It is not a government problem but a problem of common sense from the people who cause the problem. (Note: natural floodings from heavy rain is not the problem as we cannot do anything against the rain !!!)

Sealing the surface, freely draining all sealed areas onto the roads causes the problems as it causes an unnatural high amount of water running into the draining system. It can easily be seen WHERE the main areas for floodings are and nearly ALL of them are in areas with highly sealed spaces (like Big C, Meanam, Bophut, Chaweng). So please, don't tell me it is the rain and only the rain.

I am seriously angry that everytime a discussion like this is on the board, people will come and tell farytales on why there is nothing you can do and that it is all natural.

Samui becomes more and more kind of "Garbage- and Concrete-Island" than a "High-Class-Tourist-Destination".

Sadly. the people who cause the problems will be long gone when the real affects will be seen. They made their money so why should they care ?

... and ... because it is so nice that all the floodings are gone after 2 or 3 days ... ask the people who had the floodings in their houses if everything is fine again after 2 or 3 days or if everything is still damaged and needs a huge amount of money to be repaired.

It is not fine and just because everybody can use his nice "Toyota Fortuner" again doesn't mean there is no problem.

There is a huge problem, still people refuse to notice it.

Edited November 11, 2007 by hewi150

[lazeeboy]

Surely there is an impact of global enviromental problems on Samui.

Surely the draining system has improved.

Surely there were floodings in the past and will be in the future.

I read too many excuses on why it is flooding and why nothing can be done against it ... just sit it out.

Samui has some serious flooding problems which are homemade (as I said before) and there are things that can be done quite easily to avoid the floodings to a certain degree. Still, people who cause the problems find easy excuses to tell everybody it is neither avoidable nor necessary to do anything.

It is not a government problem but a problem of common sense from the people who cause the problem. (Note: natural floodings from heavy rain is not the problem as we cannot do anything against the rain !!!)

Sealing the surface, freely draining all sealed areas onto the roads causes the problems as it causes an unnatural high amount of water running into the draining system. It can easily be seen WHERE the main areas for floodings are and nearly ALL of them are in areas with highly sealed spaces (like Big C, Meanam, Bophut, Chaweng). So please, don't tell me it is the rain and only the rain.

I am seriously angry that everytime a discussion like this is on the board, people will come and tell farytales on why there is nothing you can do and that it is all natural.

Samui becomes more and more kind of "Garbage- and Concrete-Island" than a "High-Class-Tourist-Destination".

Sadly. the people who cause the problems will be long gone when the real affects will be seen. They made their money so why should they care ?

... and ... because it is so nice that all the floodings are gone after 2 or 3 days ... ask the people who had the floodings in their houses if everything is fine again after 2 or 3 days or if everything is still damaged and needs a huge amount of money to be repaired.

It is not fine and just because everybody can use his nice "Toyota Fortuner" again doesn't mean there is no problem.

There is a huge problem, still people refuse to notice it.

whereas a couple of years ago the floods would have taken weeks to clear its now days ,the road workers over the last couple of years have done wonders with the little money they've had to work with .......

[hewi150]

...

There is a huge problem, still people refuse to notice it.

whereas a couple of years ago the floods would have taken weeks to clear its now days ,the road workers over the last couple of years have done wonders with the little money they've had to work with .......

yes ... but still it doesn't change anything about the fact that the people who cause all the problems are not blamed enough for what they do.

And these people make huge money on a price the rest of the community has to pay.

[Mystery]

I've only seen the last four rainy seasons here on Koh Samui and therefore was only thinking along the lines of this year and two years ago was a heck of a lot of rain. If this kind of rain is normal every few years with the Monsoon I obviously take back my idea about Global Warming also being one of the reasons of the flooding, but two years ago they said in the newspapers they hadn't seen rain like this in 50 years... I don't know, I haven't been here.

Lazeeboy... Obviously I'm not saying the sea had anything to do with our flooding here on Samui, I'm saying the Global Warming which is affecting the whole world, may have played a part in it. Construction, development, lack of sufficient drainage and many more also played a part I would have thought. Also the roads are not as dry as the previous post stated I drove from Lamai to Maenam and back and although you can drive now there are plenty of places where your still driving through a lot of water and lots of pump thingys in place everywhere pumping water off the roads or into drains which is coming down from the mountains.

Southwest... I wouldn't mind paying a percent or two more in my taxes to contribute to the things we have to do to prevent Global Warming getting any worse, as long as I had a sure sign from my government if not the worlds governments that they were really all doing something about it and my extra taxes would help a lot, along with seperating my rubbish and anything else that would help. In my young years I have seen huge changes in the weather in Europe alone so I would think its quite obvious that Global Warming is something real that we need to prepare for and prevent and help as much as possible.

Anyway above all I do hope things get better as far as drainage and roads and development planning but I would really like to know who exactly hewi150 thinks is responsible if not the government/Thesabaan who would surely be responsible for putting in drainage, which I think you mean when you say that everything is sealed... so it needs proper drainage no? In public places that would be the Thesabaan that is responsible no? In private places the government/Thesaban would be responsible for making sure policies were implemented or not allow people to conduct business no? I don't understand, really, honestly who is responsible if not the government/Thesabaan and surely they're the same thing? I agree with you that global warming plays a small part, but OurManinSamui2008 shows us that there definitely is but of course humans should be capable of dealing with this rain, they've flown to the moon and done loads more complicated surely, but please help me to understand who you hold responsible. Thanks in advance!

[Mystery]

I've only seen the last four rainy seasons here on Koh Samui and therefore was only thinking along the lines of this year and two years ago was a heck of a lot of rain. If this kind of rain is normal every few years with the Monsoon I obviously take back my idea about Global Warming also being one of the reasons of the flooding, but two years ago they said in the newspapers they hadn't seen rain like this in 50 years... I don't know, I haven't been here.

Lazeeboy... Obviously I'm not saying the sea had anything to do with our flooding here on Samui, I'm saying the Global Warming which is affecting the whole world, may have played a part in it. Construction, development, lack of sufficient drainage and many more also played a part I would have thought. Also the roads are not as dry as the previous post stated I drove from Lamai to Maenam and back and although you can drive now there are plenty of places where your still driving through a lot of water and lots of pump thingys in place everywhere pumping water off the roads or into drains which is coming down from the mountains.

Southwest... I wouldn't mind paying a percent or two more in my taxes to contribute to the things we have to do to prevent Global Warming getting any worse, as long as I had a sure sign from my government if not the worlds governments that they were really all doing something about it and my extra taxes would help a lot, along with seperating my rubbish and anything else that would help. In my young years I have seen huge changes in the weather in Europe alone so I would think its quite obvious that Global Warming is something real that we need to prepare for and prevent and help as much as possible.

Anyway above all I do hope things get better as far as drainage and roads and development planning but I would really like to know who exactly hewi150 thinks is responsible if not the government/Thesabaan who would surely be responsible for putting in drainage, which I think you mean when you say that everything is sealed... so it needs proper drainage no? In public places that would be the Thesabaan that is responsible no? In private places the government/Thesaban would be responsible for making sure policies were implemented or not allow people to conduct business no? I don't understand, really, honestly who is responsible if not the government/Thesabaan and surely they're the same thing? I agree with you that global warming plays a small part, but OurManinSamui2008 shows us that there definitely is but of course humans should be capable of dealing with this rain, they've flown to the moon and done loads more complicated surely, but please help me to understand who you hold responsible. Thanks in advance!

[hewi150]

To make a long story short ... most of the problems we face on Samui with the floodings are caused by the sealing of the surface.

Now, we can say the Government is to blame because there is no efficient draining system. To a certain part correct.

Second, the Government can be blamed for not making regulations and laws on how to handle draining systems when sealing the surface. Also true to a certain degree.

I would blame ALL the people who seal the surface, knowing exactly what they do but just doing nothing against the effects the sealing has on the overall draining situation to save money and maximise profits, fully aware of the consequences of the sealing of the surface, cutting down the trees, changing the landscape, aso aso.

No difference for me here between big developments or all the people who just put concrete everywhere they think it should be a "propper" surface.

Big Developments, all the Townhouses along the raods .... concrete wherever you look. And everything "drains" uncontrolled on to the main roads.

Now, it is much easier (and way faster) to build a house than improving a draining system. And with all the constructions along the main raods (all with 100% sealed concrete surfaces and the roofs freely "draining" onto the roads, there is nothing to wonder about that the public draining system is not capable of handling the amount of water.

Cutting down the trees and building nice and wide roads straight up the hills cause even more problems as the water gains way more speed downhill than with trees and plants to hold the water back. No draining system is capable of handling this amount of water at that speed ... not in Thailand and not anywhere else in the world.

Just to blame the Government is just not enough for me in this case. Surely there should be regulations on draining (and even more on plumbing which will be the problem after the floodings are gone) and how to handle the water-flow when making constructions, but then, many of the Construction Companies, Architekts and the Developers are very aware of the problems they produce .... still nothing is done because it would smaller the profit margings and make constructions a bit more expensive. BTW .... this is not just against Farangs who build ... all the Thais who are sealing all the surface wherever you look are to blame, too.

The typical answer you get when trying to talk about this is the very popular and pretty ignorant excuse, that there were allwys floodings and will allways be floodings .... lame if you ask me.

just as a side note - the water is not the real problem with floodings ... the missing plumbing system and mountains of garbage in connection with the floodings will cause a much bigger problem if nothing will be done.

IMO it is a VERY serious problem and to a huge part a VERY HOME MADE problem. And many people are to blame, just open your eyes and look arround what's happening on Samui. (...and not only Samui)