Nakhon Sawan, A Community That Faced The Flood Threat Head On

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A community that faced the flood threat head on

Kornchanok Raksaseri

The Nation

Nakhon Sawan is proving to be one of the best-prepared provinces in dealing with its flood problems - with government officials, authorities and residents all taking part in defending it against the threat of inundation.

The preparation started two months ago, utilising the Internet and social media.

In early August, Governor Chairote Meedaeng called a meeting with related agencies to discuss an "urgent agenda" preparing the province for the water run-off after the upper North was affected by the Nok-Ten storm.

Dykes 15 kilometres long were built along the Chao Phraya River - both permanent walls and temporary dykes formed with sandbags piled up to four metres high.

Government officials and local administration at every level then prepared equipment including pumps, flat-bottom boats and vital facilities. Sand and soil were stockpiled for ridges and temporary bridges.

The agencies warned people of possible flash floods or mudslides in risky areas and advised them on water drainage and logistics plans.

The province's website, www.NakhonSawan.go.th, has details and information related to the flood and high water situation and action that might be needed.

It includes maps of roads and run-off routes, flow charts and related links from other agencies such as the Royal Irrigation Department, the Meteorological Department, Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency and even the municipality's own CCTV monitoring water levels.

Sirens and car horns are signals for residents of Nakhon Sawan city to evacuate to prepared centres - including the province's central stadium, the technical and vocational colleges, Nakhon Sawan school and Kiriwong Temple.

According to the plan, it would take only half an hour to evacuate the community as it is only 3 km away from the evacuation centres. The plan also reveals that the provincial central stadium is ready to accept patients from Pracharak Hospital as it has the best roof coverage.

In total, the five evacuation centres have room for 10,000 people.

On Facebook, Paknampo residents have set up a fanpage 24-Hour Update of the Nakhon Sawan Water Situation, with social media users contributing information. At 6.20pm yesterday, it had over 8,900 members.

Twitter users can put the tag #SawanFlood on messages while keeping others updated.

Video clips of Nakhon Sawan people joining hands to build dykes and dealing with their flood problems have been released. Nakhon Sawan Mayor Chittakasem Nirotethanarat, who joined the villagers and supported their activities, has been highly praised.

In the clip, Chittakasem receives flowers and a voice is heard, "Nayok [mayor] doesn't give up, we sellers are not giving up."

Although the preparation will not entirely prevent loss to the city area, the damage that has occurred, compared with the losses that could have been sustained, well demonstrates the success of the "Nakhon Sawan Model", the flood rehabilitation programme started last November. It stresses the value of good planning, preparation and cooperation.

-- The Nation 2011-10-11

[moe666]

Good for them, there are people in Thailand trying to do their best

[taichiplanet]

This guy should be running thailand!

[Hssl]

And it would of been a whole easier if the government had let the army base 2Kms out of town get involved

[TheWalkingMan]

And that is exactly how business, government and the people should work together for common goals.

Kick the mayor upstairs.

[WaatWang]

Amazing Thailand! Beautiful story - I hope leaders of other municipalities will take notice and learn from Nakhon Sawan in the future.

[Jaggg88]

here's my house in Nakhon Sawan

[Baxer]

here's my house in Nakhon Sawan

Does not look good, do you have insurance to cover the damages or does it not cover disasters like this?

[Jaggg88]

here's my house in Nakhon Sawan

Does not look good, do you have insurance to cover the damages or does it not cover disasters like this?

yes we have insurance but don't know if it will cover this. It flooded a little last year but locals say they haven't seen flooding like this for more than 20 years.

[BigBikeBKK]

Yes, the Governor of Nakhon Sawan has received a lot of praise from local residents who say that he has done so much more to prepare for this flood than previous officials, who, like seemingly just about every other politician in this country, take a "wait and see and pray to the water gods" approach.

Kudos to Governor Chairote Meedaeng. Will others follow his example?

[robblok]

Yes, the Governor of Nakhon Sawan has received a lot of praise from local residents who say that he has done so much more to prepare for this flood than previous officials, who, like seemingly just about every other politician in this country, take a "wait and see and pray to the water gods" approach.

Kudos to Governor Chairote Meedaeng. Will others follow his example?

I hope so, these kind of guys are needed to help Thailand.

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Long road ahead before life in Nakhon Sawan returns to normal

THE NATION

Despite preparatory work and several days of trying to prevent flood waters from inundating the area, the water level in Nakhon Sawan city reached 1.5 metres yesterday.

The mission was changed from trying to drain the water out and contain the flooded area to just Paknampo Market, to facilitating the city's return to something close to normal despite the flooding, and protecting the Asia Highway, which was within reach of the rising water yesterday.

Sawan Pracharak Hospital stopped providing outpatient and emergency services, but offered such services at a temporary centre at a Provincial Administration Organisation office near Phaholyothin junction.

Inpatients, meanwhile, remained on the second to seventh floors of the hospital.

Many Nakhon Sawan residents also chose to stay on the second or higher floors of their houses rather than moving to evacuation centres.

Residents were advised to use electricity extremely carefully, and were urged to lift the circuit-breaker switch in the event of any risk while electricity was still being supplied.

Despite the damage to much of their property, many flood-affected people expressed their appreciation of the efforts and cooperation among the authorities, military and the public.

Chalit Pongsitthisak, in charge of the province's disaster prevention and mitigation office, said drinking water, water distillers and toilets were much needed.

Facebook and Twitter users kept others updated about the situation.

Among other things, they reported that people from other areas were making money during the crisis situation by providing boat rides for residents and charging as much as Bt300 merely for a ride out of a soi. Their long-tail motor boats had also allegedly caused damage to some houses.

The people offering these paid services were reportedly from other districts and subdistricts that had earlier been flooded in the province.

The military also provided transportation for commuters and supplies.

Wirat Tangpradit, chairman of the lower-northern provinces' chamber of commerce, said business losses in the Nakhon Sawan city area could amount to Bt50 million a day.

Meanwhile, 200,000 out of 2 million tonnes of the province's stock of its renowned rice was reported damaged.

Nakhon Sawan chief irrigation engineer Surin Sapsakul said it would take at least two months to drain the flood water out of the province as a large additional amount of water, including from the Bhumibol and Sirikit dams, was yet to come from the North. In addition, the sea level was still high.

On Monday morning, a dyke was breached, allowing water to flood Nakhon Sawan municipality.

Mayor Chittakasem Nirote-thanarat, Governor Chairote Meedaeng and Third Army commander Lt-General Wanthip Wongwai as well as members of the community tried to fix the problem and pumped water out of the area.

However, the dyke could not withstand the surging tide and remained breached in a number of places.

Evacuation centres and essential supplies have been prepared in safe areas around the city for thousands of people.

-- The Nation 2011-10-12