Bangkok Braces For Unstoppable Flood Waters

[ResX]

If Bangkok had opened their gates earlier this might have been prevented. But they did not want to take any risk and keep their feet dry. Now i can get out of control.

I said the same a while back too much water is coming you cant stop it you have to let it in. I have seen the water.. its still here rising a bit all the time. If one of your precious dams burst it will all come in.

We have felt it here, and i hope you wont get more then us at the depth we have it now its still do able.

It's quite clear that what you lack in knowledge you make up for in volume.

You have no idea what you are talking about. The Chao Phraya river drains the central flood plain, not the canals of Bangkok.

The amount of water that can be channeled through Bangkok's floodgates and canals is infinitesimal when compared to the volume of water that flows through the Chao Phraya river.

In other words, opening the flood gates and inundating Bangkok will have a negligible effect on the total volume of water that needs to drain into the Gulf of Thailand.

Allowing the capital of Thailand to flood will have little effect on the overall flood situation but will do great harm to the nation as a whole.

Your repeated calls for Bangkok to flood and share your pain are childish and irresponsible.

I am going to take a flyer here and I am probably making some incorrect assumptions as I don't live in Bangkok. I am sure I will be corrected where they are wrong but please be gentle with me.

From what I have read in the various posts is that the canals in Bangkok are primary to take stormwater and prevent roads from flooding. They also have floodgates at one end to alleviate external flooding problems (outer Bangkok that is). Some of the canals flow directly into the Chao Phraya river but others are pumped back into the river. Those that are pumped will obviously have a finite volume before they overflow into the roads. I assume that when pumping the water into the Chao Phraya river, they can only do it while the river is at a lower level )low tide) and it can manage the extra water. If it is done t a time when the Chao Phraya river is high it will just cause the river to overflow into other areas so pumping will need to stop. There appears to be a problem that some floodgates once opened cannot be closed due to the force of the water which means the canals will flood. From reading in the forums over the last week it appears that the volume of water is far too great to use any of the installed preventative systems to prevent a flood but they may be able to alleviate it or at least reduce the period of flooding. Good luck to all of you in the threatened and already flooded areas and I hope contingency plans are being made as to how to feed everybody and see to their health in the coming months.

Only dams such as Bhumibol and Sirikit that can match this kind of flood. No amount of storm water drainage is capable to replace their function to deal with seasonal flood flow. Next time you should ask the dams managements to be better prepared to take high intensity of flood flow in short duration. They must make sure that they can't be beaten. From the information that I can get from Google the Bhumibol & Sirkit do not have flood overflow channels. What does it mean? It means that once the dams are beaten by flood they will become the most active contributors to the downstream flood. The flood currently that Thailand is facing, partly because these two dams were beaten by flood dearly.

These two dams should and capable to hold at least 10billion cubic meter of flood water. As far as I know they did it well from 1990's up to 2002. I didn't know beyond that year. This year due to the reasons that I could not understand, the Bhumibol dam was almost "gave up fighting" as early as September 2011. By the 1st October 2011, for the persons who know what flood mitigation and control are all about, technically, the dam had already been beaten. Having all its reserve almost completely filled up by water, Thailand had to rely on "good luck" to save itself from flood. Unfortunately.. not this year.

Now I understood why the Bhumibol dam was seemed to be gave up fighting as early as Sept 2011. Read " Water in Bhumibol Dam reaches safe level". They carried out cloud seeding. A series of cloud seeding. It is not wise ....not cool...not smart ...and very unethical to carry out cloud seeding before flood season. Does it mean the flood season in Thailand is expected to be in August?

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Water Released from Bhumibol Dam Reduced UPDATE : 14 October 2011 Water released from Bhumibol Dam has been reduced to 60 million cubic meters, and the spillway has been closed since yesterday, as the flood situation is expected to abate soon.

Director of Bhumibol Dam, Boon-in Chuenchavalit said the dam's water level currently stands at around 259.6 meters above sea level.

He added that the dam is capable of holding an additional 108.8 million cubic meters of water.

The Bhumibol Dam yesterday reduced water discharge to 60 million cubic meters of water a day and closed its spillway to maintain the level, alleviating the concerns of residents along the Ping River in Tak and Kamphaengphet provinces."

http://www.zimbio.co...ches+safe+level

Water in Bhumibol Dam reaches safe level

Report By hmu111 on Sep-26-10 1:47pm From: siamdailynews.com The water level in Thailand's major reservoir Bhumibol Dam will be adequate for agricultural use this year although the quantity is not in excess.

Director of Bhumibol Dam Boon-in Chuenchavalit assured that the amount of water stored in the dam would be sufficient for this year. He advised farmers to seek consultation from the local irrigation office before deciding to grow crops that would require a large amount of water, such as corn and rice, and also to coordinate with the dam's operation center for appropriate release of water supplies.

The water level in Bhumibol Dam has increased after a series of artificial rainmaking operations in alternate with natural rainfalls. The dam is currently discharging 10 million cubic meters of water every day to supply farmlands and households.

Edited October 26, 2011 by ResX