'Broken Tooth' Problem Hits Bangkok Flood Prevention

[webfact]

'Broken tooth' problem hits flood prevention

By Punnee Amornviputpanich

The Nation

Incomplete construction of mini dams or dykes in the entire flood embankment network in and around the capital is a key factor attributing to repeat flooding, according to a senior Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) official in charge of flood and water drainage operations.

"The socalled 'broken tooth' embankment can trap flood water at certain locations while letting it flow to other areas, which makes prevention and management of flooding in Bangkok difficult as a whole," said Kangwan Deesuwan, a senior official with the BMA's Department of Drainage and Sewerage.

"The dykes in certain areas are nonexistent while construction is ready in several other locations but cannot begin as people occupying the project sites refuse to relocate. The BMA is therefore unable to move further on this construction as it is the Marine Department [under the Transport Ministry] which is authorised to take over homes and relocate residents," he explained.

The Santichon Songkhroh community, a group of 500 households on the Chao Phraya River bank in Bangkok Noi district, is one such example. It was founded 50 years ago on a riverbank plot and has been campaigning against a dyke project and relocation. The BMA last held talks with them two years ago to relocate 35 homes that are protruding onto the river but has failed to achieve results.

"If the 35 homes are moved, a 500metre dyke that could effectively prevent flooding there can be built immediately without relocating the entire community. But the dyke project is now put off indefinitely and the Bangkok Noi district office is considering legal action to resolve the matter," Kangwan said.

A community member, who asked not to be named, said that despite the hardship faced with two metre flooding, the residents could not afford to build new homes elsewhere because they considered the compensation for relocation "insufficient".

"Most of us are poor people who have lived here for decades and cannot easily find new homes elsewhere. There are more than 100 families earmarked for relocation. Some of them may agree to lose their land to make way for the dyke and a wall but many others may disagree," he said.

While the BMA project to build 86 kilometres of dykes of various kinds to protect 28 square kilometres of floodprone areas from regular or annual flooding is 90 per cent complete, the remaining 10 per cent is being held up because of the "broken tooth" problem and other issues.

-- The Nation 2010-11-08

[londonthai]

surely they should be given a piece of land and a basic house to compensate for their loss, possibly in one place, as the community.

there is no point of having an embankment with "broken tooth" - water will flow in and won't be able to drain naturally, large part of bangkok will be flooded and pumps will have to be used

[webfact]

Bangkok Governor inspects flood situation during peak Chao Phraya River high tide

BANGKOK, Nov 8 -- Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paripatra on Monday inspected flood situation in the Thai capital during the peak Chao Phraya River high tide Monday morning, affirming that even though the water level is rising quickly the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is confident of handling.

Mr Sukhumbhand has inspected the dykes built to prevent water overflowing from the Chao Phraya River at the pier near the Memorial Bridge and the city's flower market, and Tha Chang, Theves and Kiak Kai piers before moving to see the situation at Bang Sue.

The embankments along the river are built to hold water to a height of 2.5 metres above mean sea level, which was nearly reached last month. Today's peak, and other anticipated tides this month, are projected at much lower levels.

The water level was rising continuously because of high tide combined with flood water flowing from the north. The authorities forecast that the peak of the water level would not rise higher than 1.32 metres.

It is believed that the water lever in Chao Phraya River on the peak high tide day on Monday would be almost the same as the level on Sunday and the municipal authorities (BMA) expect the preparations already made will be sufficient to respond to the high water.

The Bangkok Governor said the BMA would monitor water levels until after Loy Krathong Festival on Nov 21 as after that date the high tides will be lower.

However 27 communities scattered across 13 districts of the capital which are outside the 77km flood dyke erected by BMA along the Chao Phraya River will still be affected by the overflow of water from the river.

For those unprotected by the flood control dykes, however, BMA officials have piled sandbags to form makeshift flood walls to mitigate the affect for those impacted by the flooding.

Flood Coordination Centre chairman Apirak Kosayodhin on his 'Twitter' social network warned residents along the Chao Phraya River that the peak high tide would be at around 9.25am at 2.08 metres.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said Thailand's flood-related latest death toll as of Nov 7 rose to 165 since the country was hit by flooding beginning Oct 10.

The disaster response agency said that flooding in the upper part of the country from Oct 10 to Nov 7 killed 122 persons and that 18 provinces continue to have flooding and remain under water.

The southern provinces, hit by flooding triggered by tropical depression-related rainstorms, reported 43 deaths from Oct 30 to Nov 7, and 12 southern provinces overall have been flooded, the department said.

Local residents in Lan Saka district of Nakhon Si Thammarat were on high alert and closely monitoring mudslides as the rain persisted after the earlier rain-triggered mudslides at Kamloan subdistrict. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2010-11-08

[yellow1red1]

put the houses on top of the new dyke?

Edit: 2.5 crummy meters?

raise the houses on stilts and fill in under, uplocation instead of relocation.

the stilts would anchor the dykes

Edited November 8, 2010 by yellow1red1

[anterian]

put the houses on top of the new dyke?

Edit: 2.5 crummy meters?

raise the houses on stilts and fill in under, uplocation instead of relocation.

the stilts would anchor the dykes

If you examine any traditional Thai wooden house, there are still a few left in Bangkok, they were always built on stilts about 6 to 10 feet high.

It seems that modern Thais have forgotten the wisdom of their ancestors.

[pisico]

put the houses on top of the new dyke?

Edit: 2.5 crummy meters?

raise the houses on stilts and fill in under, uplocation instead of relocation.

the stilts would anchor the dykes

If you examine any traditional Thai wooden house, there are still a few left in Bangkok, they were always built on stilts about 6 to 10 feet high.

It seems that modern Thais have forgotten the wisdom of their ancestors.

Wisdom is a rare quality nowadays in LOS

[TPI]

put the houses on top of the new dyke?

Edit: 2.5 crummy meters?

raise the houses on stilts and fill in under, uplocation instead of relocation.

the stilts would anchor the dykes

Oh! Come on now! That would require a public servant or member of parliment to do some thinking, where's the money in that?

[Honolulu]

Why don't they build a dam on the river above the city? Flood control, hydro-electric power, and a lake all in one fell swoop?

[dcutman]

Oh please!

Does anybody really believe fixing this so called "broken tooth" will really help anything. There are much larger problems. If you cover everything with concrete and asphalt, let builders run wild, and do what they want, with no planning or impact study, as well as never update an over taxed infustructure. You are going to have flooding, property damage, and death.

For the people living on this "broken tooth" area. If this area was for a high rise condo, shopping mall or even gas station, they would have 2 choices move or get buried.

[brahmburgers]

"The water level was rising continuously because of high tide combined with flood water flowing from the north." . . . quote from newspaper article

Those are two of the three major factors which will lead to catastrophic flooding for Bkk (not counting subsiding ground levels). The third major factor is something that Bkk and its Gulf of Thailand has been somewhat immune to ....thus far. Namely, typhoons and/or other mega factors (earthquakes or giant landslides in the greater vicinity) which can result in tsunamis or storm surges.

Prior to the tsunami which hit Thailand's Andaman coast a few years ago, 99% of Thai people didn't even know the word tsunami, because tsunamis were simply something that didn't affect Thailand. In other words, there was no recent record of tsunamis on the Andaman coast. Meteorologists would have told you, prior to the tsunami, something like "it's highly unlikely that such an event will affect Thailand's coasts, because tsunamis just aren't a factor for Thailand.

Similarly, if you talk to meteorologists about a tsunami in the Gulf of Thailand, you'd likely get a similar response.

As for building houses on dikes, I don't recommend it. I wouldn't even like to see trees planted on a mostly earthen dike, as their roots can divert water and weaken the earthworks. If dwellings are there, people will dig holes, latrines, run pipes and conduit, etc. Children and pets might fall in the water, and people would sue the authorities who built the dikes.

The underlying issue, which is unmentioned and the hardest of all to deal with is: OVERPOPULATION. Increasingly, people move to marginal pieces of land or houseboats, but there's a saturation point which, I believe, humans crossed a hundred years ago.

Too many people + decreasing land & resources = trouble, no matter how you try to scramble the numbers.