Prepare Now For Potential Floods Next Year Of The Same Magnitude: Thai Opinion

[ludditeman]

The best preparation you can make for a flood, is to not be living in a house built in an area that floods.

Simple!

[Crossy]

I believe there'll be flood next year, and I've already made up my mind to relocate from my present location ( a moobaan that was miraculously spared ) into a condo.

Not necessarily the best move, we are now entering our third month with no power and no water, we live in a condo. The ground floor where the water pumps, incoming supply transformer, main distribution board and diesel generator are (were) located flooded to 3m.

Of course all this kit is written off, and of course none of the co-owners are interested in contributing to repair / replacement (insurance will cover only a fairly small percentage due to the age of the existing system).

We will be moving out to our new build home mid-year, at least there we are reliant only on our own preparations.

[anterian]

Cement and breeze-block walls just don't work, even if sealed. The sealants give way from inside out. In Bang-Pun, Phatumtani where my home is/was the water came up through the floors and toilets before it got through and above a 1.5m high sealed wall we had had built. The muck and crap came from within and up and out, not vice-versa.

-mel.

There are two types of blocks, lightweight which is porous and high density which is not. To stop the water rising through your waste outlets there are many methods to seal waste and toilet pipes http://www.petersenp...CFUIa6wodK2lwnA

I have no idea if they are available in Thailand, I shall bring some from England this summer.

be some excess luggage weight for u then

Not really a standard 5 inch drain plug is about a kilo, anyway I normally just travel with carry on luggage.

[overhaul38]

I will be interested to see how much actual preparation takes place. Normally, after the crisis is past memories fade until it happens again then "we've really got to solve this".

[overhaul38]

The best preparation you can make for a flood, is to not be living in a house built in an area that floods.

Simple!

I wish I had thought of that...how about hurricanes, earthquakes? Let me give this some thought.

[elcent]

... could be, and probably will, an extreme dry year ahead with some extreme flash-flooding in between. Those who have seen floods in previous year will probably see it again.

Dam management is most important, plus some more preparations for eventualities. An early harvest, why not? Better than mobbing in Bangkok.

Also be prepared of land buyers.

I still believe that a dam or two additionally to those existing could solve a lot of problems.

[tukkytuktuk]

If someone has found a way to look 10 months into the future and predict what will happen tuen this is truepy remarkable, someone should ask this person if he also knows the lottery numbers. This is more government scare mongering to take the focus off Thaksin returning to Thailand.

[Thai at Heart]

Prepare for possible impending problems?

In the most paranoid country in the world that is largely impossible. Throw in a good dose of mai bpen arai, and I expect if the rainfall is the same as this year the response will be at most 5% better.

[aussiebebe]

I believe there'll be flood next year, and I've already made up my mind to relocate from my present location ( a moobaan that was miraculously spared ) into a condo.

Not necessarily the best move, we are now entering our third month with no power and no water, we live in a condo. The ground floor where the water pumps, incoming supply transformer, main distribution board and diesel generator are (were) located flooded to 3m.

Of course all this kit is written off, and of course none of the co-owners are interested in contributing to repair / replacement (insurance will cover only a fairly small percentage due to the age of the existing system).

We will be moving out to our new build home mid-year, at least there we are reliant only on our own preparations.

That's awful, you have my deepest sympathies - 3 months without power and water in a condo must be terrible, however are you coping?

[Thunder26]

Nobody knows how much will rain next year. This information is just to fill the paper. We will really know or can predict the flood more accurately by the end of August. Until then is just pure talk and nothing else.

Edited December 24, 2011 by Thunder26

[maidu]

A waste of money. Such flood only come once in 50 years.

Have you noticed how many once in a lifetime events weatherwise countries have had these past few years? eg The 2 worst years for tornadoes in the USA have occured in the past decade. For what ever reason, the atmosphere is warming, that puts more moisture in the air. It's got to fall somewhere.

Just 16 months before this "worst flood in history", Thai newspaper headlines were shouting about "Worst Drought in 20 Years". Did they even keep records prior to 20 years? Does Thailand have any climate experts, and if so, do they know how to keep precise measurements on things like sea levels and precipitation? This is a country where, if the clock shows 6 minutes to 11, the Thai person will say it's 11 o'clock. A country where most people don't know compass directions, and no more than a handful of Thais knew the word 'tsunami' before the waves hit Phuket several years ago. Even now, Thai scientists will tell you that a large storm surge (tsunami caused, or otherwise) cannot affect the bay leading to Bangkok.

[Mosha]

Conicidentally, as this thread opened yesterday, Discovery was showing an episode on last years extreme weather. It was subtitled Stormaggeddon.

[Mosha]

Conicidentally, as this thread opened yesterday, Discovery was showing an episode on last years extreme weather. It was subtitled Stormaggeddon.

[hellodolly]

Lets see here. The Netherlands with a long history of flood management offers to help and it is declined.

They seriously think of a tunnel wider and longer than any other tunnel in the world that can be used as a road in the non rainy seasons. And they are going to build it cheaper and faster.

Not a word of clearing the present drainage channels of any thing impeding the flow of water and keeping them clear. Not a word of stopping the deforestation which leads to more run off.

Refusal to look out side Thailand for a answer.

Winnipeg in Canada has flooding problems and they have come up with a new type of water barrier that is quick and easy to set up.

I guess that won't work here because it wasn't thought up by a Thai academic.

Folks the best we can hope for is a reasonable amount of rain. The present government is going to do nothing other than talk. And bring their benefactor back from his residence in Dubai.

[Valentine]

Lets see here. The Netherlands with a long history of flood management offers to help and it is declined.

They seriously think of a tunnel wider and longer than any other tunnel in the world that can be used as a road in the non rainy seasons. And they are going to build it cheaper and faster.

Not a word of clearing the present drainage channels of any thing impeding the flow of water and keeping them clear. Not a word of stopping the deforestation which leads to more run off.

Refusal to look out side Thailand for a answer.

Winnipeg in Canada has flooding problems and they have come up with a new type of water barrier that is quick and easy to set up.

I guess that won't work here because it wasn't thought up by a Thai academic.

Folks the best we can hope for is a reasonable amount of rain. The present government is going to do nothing other than talk. And bring their benefactor back from his residence in Dubai.

The big flood tunnel looks to be a project of epic proportions & based on local history could well result in epic corruption & mismanagement. Simple approaches as described above may not be 100% effective but certainly much better than what we have now. However, this type of approach does not have nearly so much fat to trim off.

[ratcatcher]

I'm trying to think of a word that means 'even less competent than utterly incompetent'. For that is what the government haters will be adding to the English lexicon next year should any flooding at all occur. Thinking hats on, boys

At least next year we'll know that sandbags are a complete waste of time for defending individual properties and constructing cheap temporary breeze-block wall defenses could be the way to go.

Breeze-block walls, silicone cement finished is definitely the way to go, but you also need a means of closing the domestic waste pipes and toilets. Thigh length waders and/or an inflatable dinghy, well stocked freezer and medicine cabinet, and a generator that will run on bottled gas.

Yes, but do remember to move the freezer, medicine cabinet and generator to the first floor

Houses in my village don't have a first floor, most of my stuff this year ended up perched on stoneware patio furniture a few scant centimetres above the flood waters. Lying in bed watching fish swim around your bedroom is actually quite relaxing.

[softgeorge]

A waste of money. Such flood only come once in 50 years.

That's the attitude, The thai government would be proud of you. Let's just wait and see if it happens again then we can act and plan for the next one. Mother nature has a strict schedule and hasn't planned another incident for 50 years so not our problem leave it to the grandkids to fix.

[toybits]

What would Thailand look if the sea rose 50 feet from present average sea level? That is where people should start building their homes. Fortunately, we are more than a 1000 feet above sea level in Chiang Rai province.

[DocN]

Does that mean, I should start to stock pile water, coke zero and beer???

[softgeorge]

Does that mean, I should start to stock pile water, coke zero and beer???

It is always a good idea to have a stockpile of beer