Pattaya Authorities Remain On High Alert As Floods Cause Havoc Around The City.

[Rimmer]

Pattaya, October 12 [PATTAYA ONE NEWS] : Over the past few days, Pattaya has experienced some of the worst cases of flash flooding seen for many years and according to long-range weather forecasts, the rain is expected to continue for at least the next 7 days. The heavy rainfall began on Saturday Night and continued, almost uninterrupted through to Sunday Morning. When the rain eventually stopped, many areas were under at least ½ meter of water. The usual hotspots were checked by us and regardless of the usual flooding occurring on the Sukumvit Road, many small villages and the houses contained within them had sustained flood damage which villagers hope will be covered, to an extent, by the local authorities. One area of concern was Soi 69 off the Sukumvit Road which resembled a fast flowing river. Other areas of concern were the North end of Pattaya Third Road and other areas along the Sukumvit Road from Central Pattaya towards Jomtien. Local Government Workers are currently doing what they can to assist villages around the Pattaya area and are preparing for further flooding which is expected to come over the next week. For those who need non-medical emergency help you can call the Pattaya City Call Center on 1337.

Source:

http://www.pattayaone.net/news/2009/octobe..._12_10_52.shtml

[george]

More flood pictures from Pattaya:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Pattaya-Flood-t305631.html

[sillyfools]

One would come to think that after so many years and after the billions of baht that are made and spent in that city that this problem would have been tackled years ago.....

Maybe this is their way of going after the 'high-end tourists' by make it the Venice of the Orient......

[dude007]

One would come to think that after so many years and after the billions of baht that are made and spent in that city that this problem would have been tackled years ago.....

Maybe this is their way of going after the 'high-end tourists' by make it the Venice of the Orient......

No city in the world can cope with such heavy downpours. I have seen personally the city of Riyadh (capital of Saudi Arabia, in the middle of an enormous desert) being flooded by more than 0.50 meters of water. Developing a drainage system which could cope with that amount of rainfall in such short period of time would not be realistic and way too expensive. Every storm drainage project allows for a certain percentage of flooding, which is NEVER 100%. It may take 50 years more before this flooding will ever happen again in Pattaya, but this time they really got it...

Feel so sorry for those who have lost much money in water damage from this flooding in a period where tourism is at its lowest level ever.

Wait until the sea water level will start raising. Be prepared now already!

[Sherlocke]

Pattaya isn't a desert town - it experiences a wet season every year - and floods every year - it's not as if the rain is a huge surprise!

[wobblyjohn]

Pattaya isn't a desert town - it experiences a wet season every year - and floods every year - it's not as if the rain is a huge surprise!

And over the years I have seen it much much worse than now, good job they cleaned the drains down Pattaya Tai we could have been swimming

[wade72]

That was an unbelievable amount of rain is such a short period of time. I was driving down Soi Siam Country Club and saw the water shooting 2 feet up out of the storm drains and was worried it was going to start running in under the doors of my truck. However I have seen worse flooding in Canada after a really good rain so don't start bashing Thailand over this. Every country gets the same thing and builds their storm drains for the "average" year and expects flooding occasionally.

[sedeflonga]

Pattaya nice and clean

[leicester]

Pattaya nice and clean

Do they have Vision Express in Thailand?

[LTGTR]

One would come to think that after so many years and after the billions of baht that are made and spent in that city that this problem would have been tackled years ago.....

Maybe this is their way of going after the 'high-end tourists' by make it the Venice of the Orient......

Drainage has been and always will be an afterthought after construction.It's the Thai way.

[notime]

No city in the world can cope with such heavy downpours. I have seen personally the city of Riyadh (capital of Saudi Arabia, in the middle of an enormous desert) being flooded by more than 0.50 meters of water. Developing a drainage system which could cope with that amount of rainfall in such short period of time would not be realistic and way too expensive. Every storm drainage project allows for a certain percentage of flooding, which is NEVER 100%. It may take 50 years more before this flooding will ever happen again in Pattaya, but this time they really got it...

Feel so sorry for those who have lost much money in water damage from this flooding in a period where tourism is at its lowest level ever.

Wait until the sea water level will start raising. Be prepared now already!

Hey, don't say "no city in the world" until you see them all. The rain doesn't fall all at once but over some period of time that if the drainage is designed of the right capacity and the distance to the sea is short would allow all the water to clear. I lived in Singapore for few years and experienced very heavy rains but there was almost no flooding. You should see perhaps the drainage canals they have there all over the city. At the same time the floods were disastrous on the other side of the bridge in Johor Baru, Malaysia. Here in Koh Samui, where I live now, and that is a island alike Singapore even a small amount of rain causes floods. They are all man-made floods due to the blockage of natural creaks and waterways that used to take the water back to the sea. There is no excuse to floods in gently rising coastal areas like Samui or Pattaya. Unless of course the water build-up comes from the sea (cyclone, tsunami) which we are not discussing here.

[Junglejumbo]

Let's hope these floods can clean up the filth.

[pepi2005]

One would come to think that after so many years and after the billions of baht that are made and spent in that city that this problem would have been tackled years ago.....

Maybe this is their way of going after the 'high-end tourists' by make it the Venice of the Orient......

exactly my thoughts too ....

while it must be difficult to avoid any flooding, it never ceases to amaze me that the money they make here

(given the number of police checkpoints that check for helmets, driving licenses and insurance for example)

doesn't suffice to finally finish the work on Thappraya Road (where still accidents happen on a daily basis due

to people losing control over their motorbikes on the sand or falling in one of the huge potholes covering it)

or to at least fill up these HUGE potholes on 2nd road between Pratumnak and Pattaya Tai.

I am just waiting until the first victim who run into an accident caused by these obstacles files a lawsuit

against the authorities ... since it seems no one of them gives a sh*t about it.

[taffylee]

It may take 50 years more before this flooding will ever happen again in Pattaya, but this time they really got it...

LOL!! I've seen it 3 or 4 times in the 5 years I been living here.

[DONEWITHIT]

What are the areas in and around Pattaya where it doesn't flood?

[taffylee]

Pratumnak hill is a good bet, cos it it floods there then god help half of Thailand!

I live near North Pattaya Road and we dont get any problems here.

[DefaultName]

What are the areas in and around Pattaya where it doesn't flood?

The hills.

More seriously, the city is mostly on ground that's so close to sea level that no drainage system will be able to cope with this sort of extreme rain. There's just no downhill in the drainage pipes to help the flow.

We get the same sort of thing in England; people build houses on alluvial flood plains and are then shocked by a flood. OK, so in England it's generally caused by heavy rain further up the river, but the same principle applies; if you don't want to risk a flood, ever, don't build on a flat bit of land that's low down near any water.

Without knocking down most of Pattaya and re-building it somewhere higher, we will have to put up with occasional flooding.

[Basil B]

There just seems to be so many expert who know it all, Pattaya is not spending enough on drains?

Just looking at some of the picture it is clear that many roads were rivers of over 0.5 meters of running water, to divert all that water into a drainage system you are going to need some very large drains, probably >6m Dia, and a decent incline to get the water moving, just how do you get a decent incline when much of the area that gets flooded is only a few meters above sea level?

[moe666]

Since Pattaya is to wet for some of you guys, I have a house in Manila I will sale real cheap.

[djvolak]

Since Pattaya is to wet for some of you guys, I have a house in Manila I will sale real cheap.

How cheap? I've never been to manila. Yet.

[Brewsta]

Pattaya nice and clean

Do they have Vision Express in Thailand?

One assumes that there is a VE in SinCity and that business is 'flowing' nicely....... lol.

rgdz,

Brewsta

[seedyfarang]

I feel sorry for all the small business operators, except for the dodgy sales woman who ripped me off on jomtien beach road last year!!

[marshbags]

When you talk about al the money spent on trying to fix the problem, don,t forget to allow for all the tea money that generates from this, it reduces considerably by the time it,s distributed.

I lived in Pattaya 18 years ago, it was just the same then and I used to see them year on year digging the same old drains out and replacing them with cheap inferior replacements.

I am not a cynic, just posting as I,ve seen it happen.

They put various sized drain outlets ( you could sail a boat in some of them ) and while they ae left open, they always get loads of soil / clay or whatever filling half the space up, never bother to clean it out while they are still accessable and seal everything up with it all still inside

I did ask on a couple of occassions why the do not clean it out before they close them up.

I also pointed to the problem and demonstrated what I was describing, nicely of course

I got the customary vacant look and lots of smiles and laughter.

I must have looked a right prat with a " T "with them thinking I was not quite full.....another crazy foreigner who cannot mind his own business I guess, was what they thought about it.

Let,s be honest the engineering and the laying og the outlets, leave a lot to be desired, drainage wise.

I,m sorry my fellow residents and visitors, they will never solved the problem any time soon, and not if the last 19 years are anything to go by, in our life times.

Enjoy the many positives Thailand has to offer and make the most of it all, I always do.

marshbags

[john b good]

One would come to think that after so many years and after the billions of baht that are made and spent in that city that this problem would have been tackled years ago.....

Maybe this is their way of going after the 'high-end tourists' by make it the Venice of the Orient......

No city in the world can cope with such heavy downpours. I have seen personally the city of Riyadh (capital of Saudi Arabia, in the middle of an enormous desert) being flooded by more than 0.50 meters of water. Developing a drainage system which could cope with that amount of rainfall in such short period of time would not be realistic and way too expensive. Every storm drainage project allows for a certain percentage of flooding, which is NEVER 100%. It may take 50 years more before this flooding will ever happen again in Pattaya, but this time they really got it...

Feel so sorry for those who have lost much money in water damage from this flooding in a period where tourism is at its lowest level ever.

Wait until the sea water level will start raising. Be prepared now already!

Peoeple talking about an "unbelievable amount or rain"

What's an unbelievable amount of rain?

Are we talking about 50mm, 100, 150, 200, 500? or what. It needs to be quantified and not just measured as an unbelievable amount of rain.

So what was it exactly?

"no city in the world can cope with such heavy down pours"

Singapore gets every bit as much rain as Pattaya (likely more so) How many times does Singapore get flooded? Very rarely "but then they are a developed country" where when they want to migate against these events they do so, they don't just talk about it.

Jakarta is another city where a bit of precipitation results in frequent flooding however Indonesia is another 3rd world country "whilst Thailand is struggling to achieve 3rd world status"

In Australia I have seen preciptation exceeding 500mm in 24 hours for three days running. Now that I what you call "an unbelievable amount of rain. 1.5km wide rivers that had not had water in them for 8 years came up 3.0m in 30 minutes.

The river delta's were 50 km wide at the sea coast.

But if you are in a rural area where there are few people you don't spend mega $$$'s to mitigate against 'one in 8 - 10 year events' but in cities with millions of people you have to spend the dollars and fix the problem.

It (the spending of the $$$'s) is not going to happen in the realm, for several reasons Thai's are not known for being pro-active and if they were to allocate money to do something about the problem a substantial amount would be syphoned off before very much constructive work was ever carried out.

It's a mentality thing. You cut out the corruption, formulate the proper mitigation measures and then you put them into place.

Those in the realm should not hold their breath about anything much being done anytime soon

Edited October 13, 2009 by john b good

[uncertaintimes]

One would come to think that after so many years and after the billions of baht that are made and spent in that city that this problem would have been tackled years ago.....

Maybe this is their way of going after the 'high-end tourists' by make it the Venice of the Orient......

Yes but the money is never spent, this happens every year. Cut the trees in Chiangmai and it continues to flood now you as you say it. Do no improvements on the intrastructure you keep getting this over and over.

[stevehaigh]

rain seems to be so localized these days. flash floods in one place and bone dry 50km away. i don't remember it been like this in previous years, is this new?

[tracer]

Singapore gets every bit as much rain as Pattaya (likely more so) How many times does Singapore get flooded? Very rarely "but then they are a developed country" where when they want to migate against these events they do so, they don't just talk about it.

Well, Years ago I was in Singapore and near Orchard Towers it suddenly started to rain hard...

We had Orchard road soon under water and I myself spend some time in the towers till the water had disappeared...

Water wasn't really high but I remember one motorbike standing and being upto the handlebars under water...

Took if I remember about 2 hours before the water had disappeared... For the rest one can like anywhere else only blame it on the silly people building where the water wants to go.... I saw the after effects of such a case in cairo, which is NOT known to have a lot of rain and they used no foundations and rarely followed plans but if you change a 6 floor plan to have 10 floors and after finishing it start digging sand out for a supermarket you can expect certain consequences and a sudden rain showed this when they were in the process of opening the place: a sudden rain and it collapsed and I was there I think 2 years later and the building was still lying in its lot as owners had been inside when it went.... And I was told that nobody wanted to BE the owner as then

you also had assume the responsibilities for it falling down.

There are by the ways computer programs which can demonstrate quite visibly what will be under water if sea-level goes up.

No idea what they are called but it seems to be an eyeopener what will happen with just 1 m water extra.... in the sea...

Check what will happen to Europe, USA, Africa and the many delta areas. Look at Miami...

[Sherlocke]

I was out and about that day - and as far as I could see the main force of the rain was outside the centre of town.........this means that the floods are caused largely from run-off from other areas.......the unrestricted development around the town has changed how the water behaves - it is no longer absorbed in the hinterland but now runs off and drains towards the sea - i. e. Pattaya.

They may "improve" the drains, but that was to cope with the OLD situation, now the new run-off has to be dealt with......I would have though a network or culverts/channels would do the trick, but they need to focus outside central Pattaya.

Edited October 13, 2009 by Sherlocke

[IHateCaptcha]

No real problems with the heavy rains for me...in fact, it's been nice to have a good cleaning of the city and bringing down the temps. Anyone with any experience of Pattaya knows where the low-spots are and to avoid those areas after extended periods of heavy rain. There have been no injuries/deaths to my knowledge and little property damage from these recent storms, which is much more than we can say for the Philippines, Taiwan, and China, so we're really doing pretty well IMHO.

[MrJohnson]

Let's hope these floods can clean up the filth.

It will take more than a flash flood to clear up the filth that is Pattaya