Disaster Warning Issued For Bangkok

[inquisitive]

Floodwalls will not be able to save Bangkok from huge water mass from North, Army Chief Prayuth says

/via@Biz_TheNation

Only the Army is willing to tell the people the truth about this flood.

Yes, and did you notice how the army has been put in charge of areas the least able to be defended? Don Mueng has been considered a lost cause for days. Siriraj is right on the bank of the Chao Praya. etc.

I'm reminded of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." In that story a bigwig wanted to discredit Merlin the Magician, and so he put Merlin in charge of predicting the weather. The idea was that back in the days of King Arthur no one could possibly do that job, but it would be Merlin that seemed laughably impotent since it became his responsibility to carry out that impossible task. Could this be part of the real reason why the army was given those specific areas, and the easier ones are to be handled by politicians? You decide.

[rubl]

My opinion is that They are trying to get BMA to obey her orders - to flood Bangkok and Suphan Buri to share the burden and slow down the process. So far these district are not with her and they are protecting the city.

The only source of information I trust comes from Bangkok Governor not FROC.

Typical Singaporeans listen to their embassy if they had not evacuate by now, they will be quick to move as soon they hear advise from Foreign Minister - within an hour, I'm at the Bus terminal to get out. I was planning for tomorrow.

Whereas Bangkok is under BMA, SuphanBuri is not. I'm not sure flooding SuphanBuri would even help at this late stage. PM Yingluck could have asked the brother of the Minister for Agriculture to co-operate. This k. Banharn seems to have lots of influence in that province

[rishi]

Interestingly, even the American Embassy is providing more detailed warning information than PM Yingluck. A friend just forwarded me the following from an email that was sent out to Americans registered in their warning system:

--------

Emergency Message to US Citizens

October 21, 2011

Flooding continues in central Thailand and is becoming more widespread

in the Bangkok Metropolitan area. It is unknown how long these

conditions will persist. Water levels are dropping in most other parts

of Thailand that have been flooded. As a purely precautionary measure,

U.S. citizens assigned to the Embassy who live approximately 12

kilometers north of central Bangkok in Pakred District, Nonthaburi

Province have the option of relocating for a few days to central

Bangkok, should they wish to do so. Extensive flooding in Thailand,

especially in Central Thailand between Bangkok and Sukhotai, has caused

considerable damage and loss of life. In many flooded areas, surface

transportation has either been suspended or diverted around those areas.

Portions of highways are closed and bus and train services linking

Bangkok with points to the north are suspended and some routes to the

northeast have been diverted.

Since the situation is changing rapidly, we recommend that you monitor

local media sources. We are posting general information, guidance about

the flood situation, and resources for U.S. citizens on our website at:

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/flood_information.html and on the Embassy

Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/usembassybkk?sk=app_139229522811253. Updated

notifications with information for U.S. citizens are available via

Twitter at @ACSBKK <http://twitter.com/> .

If you live within the Bangkok Metropolitan area and are affected by the

flooding and need urgent assistance, contact the Bangkok Metropolitan

Administration's flood hotline at 1555. If you live elsewhere, contact

the Thai Government's English-speaking Tourist Police, who can be

reached nationwide by dialing 1155. For general information you can

contact the Government Call Center at 1111 ext. 5. For Thai speakers,

there are hotlines for trains: 1690; buses: 1490; highway: 1586,

1784; and 1146 for local roads; highway police: 1193, and emergencies:

191. You can see the Thai Meteorological Department's weather forecasts

and warnings at its website, www.tmd.go.th/en/. On Twitter, unverified

flood information provided by members of general public is tracked with

#ThaiFloodEng.

---------------------

Note the Twitter hash tag they have provided. That will likely provide better and more accurate current information that the Thai Government.

... sorry, but - apart from being in English - I don't see anything that hasn't been repeated ad nauseum for weeks now all day on about every Thai TV-station one may happen to tune int

[Viper]

Go South my friends......Go South!

[DocN]

Great timing.

whatever happened to....

Posted 2011-10-16 21:40:25

The worst apparently over: Agriculture Minister

BANGKOK: -- Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut assured Bangkok residents living along the Chao Phraya River that the worst is over

Can you please enlighten me, what you expect to gain by posts like this one? Who cares? A lot of water has been flowing down the Chaophraya since that day....but don't worry: soon you can can celebrate your victory and tell everybody "See! I told you!"

[sirchai]

You can see the horses in the distance, disappearing over the hill. And we can now lock the barn door.

"Yingluck invoked the 2007 Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act to oversee flood control in lieu of declaring the state of emergency."

Here's her new job. Guess many foreigners wouldn't like to sit in her boat now I feel sad for all Thais and foreigners who'll lose all.

Edited October 21, 2011 by sirchai

[Crushdepth]

Great timing.

whatever happened to....

Posted 2011-10-16 21:40:25

The worst apparently over: Agriculture Minister

BANGKOK: -- Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut assured Bangkok residents living along the Chao Phraya River that the worst is over

Can you please enlighten me, what you expect to gain by posts like this one? Who cares? A lot of water has been flowing down the Chaophraya since that day....but don't worry: soon you can can celebrate your victory and tell everybody "See! I told you!"

Would prefer people to applaud their incompetence?

[joefromdc]

so folks the 64 million baht question is:

what areas will be safe from the ravaging floods?????????

Or what areas of central Bangkok are not safe.

I'm with you, this is the 64,000,000 question and I cannot find that answer either.

[thaikahuna]

As granny use to say, day late and a dollar short....

[sirchai]

Interestingly, even the American Embassy is providing more detailed warning information than PM Yingluck. A friend just forwarded me the following from an email that was sent out to Americans registered in their warning system:

--------

Emergency Message to US Citizens

October 21, 2011

Flooding continues in central Thailand and is becoming more widespread

in the Bangkok Metropolitan area. It is unknown how long these

conditions will persist. Water levels are dropping in most other parts

of Thailand that have been flooded. As a purely precautionary measure,

U.S. citizens assigned to the Embassy who live approximately 12

kilometers north of central Bangkok in Pakred District, Nonthaburi

Province have the option of relocating for a few days to central

Bangkok, should they wish to do so. Extensive flooding in Thailand,

especially in Central Thailand between Bangkok and Sukhotai, has caused

considerable damage and loss of life. In many flooded areas, surface

transportation has either been suspended or diverted around those areas.

Portions of highways are closed and bus and train services linking

Bangkok with points to the north are suspended and some routes to the

northeast have been diverted.

Since the situation is changing rapidly, we recommend that you monitor

local media sources. We are posting general information, guidance about

the flood situation, and resources for U.S. citizens on our website at:

http://bangkok.usemb...nformation.html and on the Embassy

Facebook page:

http://www.facebook....39229522811253. Updated

notifications with information for U.S. citizens are available via

Twitter at @ACSBKK <http://twitter.com/> .

If you live within the Bangkok Metropolitan area and are affected by the

flooding and need urgent assistance, contact the Bangkok Metropolitan

Administration's flood hotline at 1555. If you live elsewhere, contact

the Thai Government's English-speaking Tourist Police, who can be

reached nationwide by dialing 1155. For general information you can

contact the Government Call Center at 1111 ext. 5. For Thai speakers,

there are hotlines for trains: 1690; buses: 1490; highway: 1586,

1784; and 1146 for local roads; highway police: 1193, and emergencies:

191. You can see the Thai Meteorological Department's weather forecasts

and warnings at its website, www.tmd.go.th/en/. On Twitter, unverified

flood information provided by members of general public is tracked with

#ThaiFloodEng.

---------------------

Note the Twitter hash tag they have provided. That will likely provide better and more accurate current information that the Thai Government.

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this! Thai Visa should simply re-post your idea to use this site every 10 minutes. Thank you very, very much!

Note: This warning is for American citizens only......

[joefromdc]

Great timing.

whatever happened to....

Posted 2011-10-16 21:40:25

The worst apparently over: Agriculture Minister

BANGKOK: -- Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut assured Bangkok residents living along the Chao Phraya River that the worst is over

Can you please enlighten me, what you expect to gain by posts like this one?

A strengthening of their superiority complex?

[angeledge]

State of Emergency=Disaster Warning

Same Same but different?

This is called playing with words.

[hammered]

My opinion is that They are trying to get BMA to obey her orders - to flood Bangkok and Suphan Buri to share the burden and slow down the process. So far these district are not with her and they are protecting the city.

The only source of information I trust comes from Bangkok Governor not FROC.

Typical Singaporeans listen to their embassy if they had not evacuate by now, they will be quick to move as soon they hear advise from Foreign Minister - within an hour, I'm at the Bus terminal to get out. I was planning for tomorrow.

Whereas Bangkok is under BMA, SuphanBuri is not. I'm not sure flooding SuphanBuri would even help at this late stage. PM Yingluck could have asked the brother of the Minister for Agriculture to co-operate. This k. Banharn seems to have lots of influence in that province

I think invoking this law makes it clear that the government are going to allow more aggressive opening of gates than Sukhumband wanted. Just before it was invoked he was talking about closing gates again. Everyone in flooded areas is calling for the BKK gates to be opened to channel or at least try to channel water out. Yingluck is responding to his and overruling the BKK governor who obviously has BKK to think about. It also clears all bureacratic hitches as now everyone is under Yingluck and her appointed deputy (Pracha). This includes the Bangkok governor. Im not sure too that opening the Suphan buri gates would make a difference now but if it would it is cleared to be done without obstruction from the local governor and local bodies that are controlled by the local lords.

[Buchholz]

Great timing.

whatever happened to....

Posted 2011-10-16 21:40:25

The worst apparently over: Agriculture Minister

BANGKOK: -- Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut assured Bangkok residents living along the Chao Phraya River that the worst is over

Can you please enlighten me, what you expect to gain by posts like this one? Who cares? A lot of water has been flowing down the Chaophraya since that day....but don't worry: soon you can can celebrate your victory and tell everybody "See! I told you!"

1. To show how it's not the flood itself that so many people have a problem with. It's government officials incompetent reaction to it.

2. I would venture to guess that a great number of people care about the flood.

3. There's no victory in suffering, there can only be less future suffering by holding incompetent officials accountable.

.

Edited October 21, 2011 by Buchholz

[Buchholz]

A strengthening of their superiority complex?

OR ....

see above

[SunDaRi]

I think the governor to Suphan is an individual, not associated to any party. Opening Suphan will surely slow down and ease some of the flood.. I don't want that to happen of course, well done so far. Governor of Bangkok and Suphan.

[SunDaRi]

I want Governor of Bangkok to fight this order, just so to do his job in protecting the city to his best effort. Suphan refused to be flooded, so can Bangkok!

[joefromdc]

There's no victory in suffering, there can only be less future suffering by holding incompetent officials accountable.

And this is the forum where said officials will be held accountable?

I can't work this out--is that a straw-man argument or just a joke?

[zydeco]

Go South my friends......Go South!

Better take a look at this map: http://flood.gistda.or.th/

Water surrounds us and we're in some sort of Thai version of the Alamo.

[Buchholz]

There's no victory in suffering, there can only be less future suffering by holding incompetent officials accountable.

And this is the forum where said officials will be held accountable?

I can't work this out--is that a straw-man argument or just a joke?

The joke was your initial reply.

[monkfish]

Unfortunately the English speaking Thai Media isn't concentrating its efforts on informing the public but seems instead to

use the opportunity for a political attack and also publishing twisted information.

So please do not rely on what you read in English media.

Facebook and Twitter are probably better sources.

Also loads of information on Thai TV.

[harrycallahan]

Are there any users actually in Bankgok? I keep hearing about the disaster happening but never see pictures. Pictures please.

[joefromdc]

There's no victory in suffering, there can only be less future suffering by holding incompetent officials accountable.

And this is the forum where said officials will be held accountable?

I can't work this out--is that a straw-man argument or just a joke?

The joke was your initial reply.

Oh it just keeps getting better! You gave three straw-man arguments in terms of answering the original question. Or maybe you really believe that post is going to accomplish those things?

Your points are spot on, mate, I'm not disputing that. But the original question was "Can you please enlighten me, what you expect to gain by posts like this one?" Do you really think that post has any chance of gaining those things? On a silly forum for foreigners?! Seriously?!

I stand by DocN and my original sentiment that it's totally a "I told you so" deal.

I'll let you have the last word if you care to have it, but I don't think this is all that constructive and I'm ready to let it drop...

Edited October 21, 2011 by joefromdc

[stuandchris]

I want Governor of Bangkok to fight this order, just so to do his job in protecting the city to his best effort. Suphan refused to be flooded, so can Bangkok!

Not that easy SunDaRi,

Basically Bangkok is now surrounded by water, you can't just keep on holding it back and just make the sandbags etc higher and higher.

It will eventually flow to the sea no matter what.

The choices now seem to be, sacrifice parts of the city now or risk loosing the whole place.

Bit of a no win situation I am sorry to say.

[SunDaRi]

Harry, it's up north and to the east of Bangkok. The suburbs are slowly affected.. Lots of pictures in of other threads.

[joefromdc]

Are there any users actually in Bankgok? I keep hearing about the disaster happening but never see pictures. Pictures please.

I was there a couple days ago but had a scheduled trip to Phuket. I'll be back Sunday.

I have some pictures but nothing too dramatic. Here's a link to a friends facebook album with some he took up in Pathum Thani. I don't know his security settings and whether you can see them or not, but you can try.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2486807367659.138295.1176904068&type=3

[Buchholz]

There's no victory in suffering, there can only be less future suffering by holding incompetent officials accountable.

And this is the forum where said officials will be held accountable?

I can't work this out--is that a straw-man argument or just a joke?

The joke was your initial reply.

Oh it just keeps getting better! You gave three straw-man arguments in terms of answering the original question. Or maybe you really believe that post is going to accomplish those things?

Your points are spot on, mate, I'm not disputing that. But the original question was "Can you please enlighten me, what you expect to gain by posts like this one?" Do you really think that post has any chance of gaining those thing? On a silly forum for foreigners?! Seriously?!

I stand by DocN and my original sentiment that it's totally a "I told you so" deal.

I'll let you have the last word if you care to have it, but I don't think this is all that constructive and I'm ready to let it drop...

To have an "I told you so" deal... wouldn't that require a statement at the time that he was wrong?

As for other comments I made, it's necessary to highlight the first one as the government defenders keep echoing "how can people complain about her, she didn't cause the rain".

Probably best if you had let it drop before your initial reply.

.

[fractrain]

Go South my friends......Go South!

Better take a look at this map: http://flood.gistda.or.th/

Water surrounds us and we're in some sort of Thai version of the Alamo.

I live on the "u" in Pathum Thani on that map just down & across the highway from Dreamworld. Still dry here somehow. The Dreamworld side of the canal isn't though afaik.

[ricku]

I live on the "u" in Pathum Thani on that map just down & across the highway from Dreamworld. Still dry here somehow. The Dreamworld side of the canal isn't though afaik.

Ar you saying that Dreamworld has been flooded? I had plans on going there on sunday.

Getting tired of this flood.

Edited October 21, 2011 by ricku

[otherstuff1957]

Are there any users actually in Bankgok? I keep hearing about the disaster happening but never see pictures. Pictures please.

I got my camera out yesterday and walked around Ratchada & up to the Lad Prao junction. There wasn't a drop of water to be seen, which is why you haven't seen any pictures yet.

When we had that mini-surge in Klong Prapa yesterday, I was driving up Prachachun and saw about an inch of water in the lane nearest the klong. There is a concrete barrier on either side of the klong, but it has many cracks & holes, so when the water rose some of it leaked out onto the road. I gather that something similar happened up on Chang Wattana last night.