No Megaflood In Thailand This Year: Water Committee Chair

[Skywalker69]

if that the ministery of cristal balls ?

and, last year, did they predicted that they would have a flood ? due to incompetence by opening all the dams at once during high peak rain season ?

The crystal ball, was actually a fortune-teller. Hand he wasen´t paid enough.

[Skywalker69]

This year I think drought is going to be a problem.

With even higher price´s on crops, fruits and God knows what else.

Have no fear the Pardon Thaksin Party will come to the rescue. I'm suprised they are not using boats to force the water back up the rivers to the drought areas for irrigation.

Yes that was fantastic, I still snigger when crossing the river.. Anyone know who ordered this. Is he still in a job????

Yes but he has been transfered.

[Skywalker69]

The ONLY thing predictable inThailand from the government Ministries is HOT AIR.

Also the snoring sound from the Parlament.

[h90]

King Canute springs immediately to mind. According to legend, Canute’s courtiers flattered him into believing that his word was so powerful that even the tide would recede at his command. Canute is said to have taken this compliment literally and had his throne placed by the shore and vainly attempted to command the waves to recede until he almost drowned.

Here it is different....A specific PM would try to bribe the tide.

[TackyToo]

More flood embankments, canals and flood-related structures have been built, which he said would prevent future floods and the public could rest assured of the matter.

Why do I always get goose bumbs when they say things like that?

He also added if major floods do happen, neither this government nor himself in his position could last long.

Reminds me on toilets you flush and what you don't need disappears

[Skywalker69]

Of topic, sorry

About the flood, I hope the pumps Thaksin said he bought for his own money will arrive in time for the next flood.

[Debothai]

Don't know about you guys - but I am buffer-stocking my two favourites already - Coke ZERO and Bia-Singh.

[jeffcool]

In the village where I live in Phichit province, the main road running through it and surrounding roads,are in a dreadful state caused by last years floods. There is a water tanker that drives through the village several times every day spraying water on the road surface presumably to keep the dust away, then it dries up after about five or ten minutes, then about two or three hours later this gets repeated again, I ask my wife why the local authority won't fix the roads as it is now about six months since the floods went away, she says it is because the floods will come back again this year so it is not worth while to get them fixed.

Drive on to the small town about ten miles on and the roads have all been resurfaced. there have been roads resurfaced all around this part of the province.

So, as we are now officially told there will be no floods this year, I can now look forward to the roads in and around my village being resurfaced. Somehow I don't think this will happen as "this is Thailand" and the people are non confrontational. They will put up with anything. Like I said "this is Thailand".

You should move close to Sawankaloke.... We had a road "re-surfaced" when it was actually not dammaged...... Go figure hey.....

[jeffcool]

They did "re-build" the bank of the YOM river around here.....

Yes with Big Rock put on sand...... Not an expert but i would believe that as soon as the water level rise, some of those rocks and sand will end up in the bottom of the river....

And you know the water will happilly overflow the banks.... again.....

Haven't been rainning here for a long time...... same as last year.....

Don't believe in Mega flood this year..... Just Flash flooding for 6 weeks......

[thaibeachlovers]

Well, they may have been spending money somewhere, but not up here in this provincial town, The drains are still as blocked as they were last year, and no canals that I can see as having been cleaned, widened etc.

[MaiDong]

In the village where I live in Phichit province, the main road running through it and surrounding roads,are in a dreadful state caused by last years floods. There is a water tanker that drives through the village several times every day spraying water on the road surface presumably to keep the dust away, then it dries up after about five or ten minutes, then about two or three hours later this gets repeated again, I ask my wife why the local authority won't fix the roads as it is now about six months since the floods went away, she says it is because the floods will come back again this year so it is not worth while to get them fixed.

Drive on to the small town about ten miles on and the roads have all been resurfaced. there have been roads resurfaced all around this part of the province.

So, as we are now officially told there will be no floods this year, I can now look forward to the roads in and around my village being resurfaced. Somehow I don't think this will happen as "this is Thailand" and the people are non confrontational. They will put up with anything. Like I said "this is Thailand".

Perhaps your village didn't vote the right way

[finnomick1]

...nothing like putting your head on the chopping block is there ?

[finnomick1]

Quote -- the public can be rest assured there will be no floods this year. Next paragraph -- if there are any floods, this government and this chairperson won't be in their positions for very long.

Please, make up your mind. Flood or no flood, I want to be rest assured !

[maidu]

In a paternalistic soceity, the minions expect to be told what to think by 'higher ups.' Thaksin and his fellow puppeteers know this. The guy could be a robot. Maybe he is. Has anyone looked behind him, and seen whether there are any electronic cables emitting from his trousers - back to the curtain behind him?

Statistically, Bkk and surrounding regions have majoy floods about once every five years.

There is no reliabilty in long term forecasting.

What does this guy know? He has no experience in water management. In the 80s as an adviser to Prem, he used to advocate extreme fiscal and monetary responsibility and jacked up interest rates to prevent inflation. In the 90s he did the same thing and engineered a stock market collapse by jacking up interest rates in the few weeks he was finance minister. Now he seems to have a become a bagman for Thaksin's growth at any price policies and is advocating all kinds of fiscal and monetary incontinence, including the ultimate basket case policy of spending international reserves, as well as dubious water management projects. He seems poised to become chairman of the Bank of Thailand soon but will retain his important flood prevention duties.

The cream rises to the top. In lieu of the best Thailand has to offer, he's the cream. Sad.

[ginjag]

Storms in parts of Udon today, as it was pi##ing down, the sane lady next door to me was outside with hose full flow watering the vegetables --haha Thai mentality ??? yes many do things like this, they learn from government actions. Off topic a little but a smile won't hurt

[metisdead]

A nonsense post and replies have been removed.

[animatic]

If government pronouncements on flood are anything to go by, it's time for me to start stocking up the extra bottled water again.

And turning the lawn into edible gardens.

[phiphidon]

This year I think drought is going to be a problem.

With even higher price´s on crops, fruits and God knows what else.

Have no fear the Pardon Thaksin Party will come to the rescue. I'm suprised they are not using boats to force the water back up the rivers to the drought areas for irrigation.

Yes that was fantastic, I still snigger when crossing the river.. Anyone know who ordered this. Is he still in a job????

Perhaps if you knew who first proposed this idea you and a lot more people on here would have kept a lot lower profile............................

[Buchholz]

This year I think drought is going to be a problem.

With even higher price´s on crops, fruits and God knows what else.

Have no fear the Pardon Thaksin Party will come to the rescue. I'm suprised they are not using boats to force the water back up the rivers to the drought areas for irrigation.

Yes that was fantastic, I still snigger when crossing the river.. Anyone know who ordered this. Is he still in a job????

Yes, the clown who is the richest man in Yingluck's Cabinet, Plodprasop, is still the Science and Technology Minister.

.

[harada]

No problem,big bro will part the waters.

[ResX]

It took the Netherlands approx. 45 years to complete their defense-system (the Delta works) in order to protect the country from high-tide and storm-floods. THEY are considered as THE experts.

Thailand has solved the problem in merely 3 months!

Chapeau............Thai experts will be consulted in due course.

Sounds crazy right? Actually it is true. They have solved the flood defensive strategy to deal major floods the size of the last year's flood. They don't need to spend any Baht for that purpose. Most likely they get more Baht by now.

If you go through my posting I have mentioned that Thailand didn't need Baht by that much to deal with the flood with the size of the last year's flood. I really meant it.

Last year's flood was a mistake. The solution is as simple as "don't repeat the same mistake". The authorities in Thailand are doing right now. I'm following critically what they are doing as a matter of to fulfill my curosity. The flood defence plan this year is much better than the last year's one. I can see it. So you can expect the same rainfall intensity and duration like last year is not enough to cause damage to Thailand the way it did in 2011.

Don't take posting as saying that Thailand is immune from flood. As long as there are rainfalls, then major flood is always one of the probabale consequences. With or without dams.

[ResX]

I have only lived here a few years, and do have a serious question.

In last years flood, I thought part of the problem was, despite good advice from a high authority on water management and a suggestion water levels in dams be lowered...when the record rains came...there was no where to "store it." The reservoirs were already full.

I live right on the Chao Phraya and yesterday was absolutely the lowest I have ever seen it. You could walk 40 meters on a mud flat to the main channel. I saw the remains of old piers, etc...i had never seen before.

What is the current water level of reservoirs this year compared to last? And, is there any relationship between the river low level and those dams? it would be a sad irony to have this year be short on much needed rain fall, and find his "guarantee" is simply an extension of the knowledge that the reservoirs are already drained far below last years level, to insure that any amount of rainfall can be contained. Hence, a statement that there will be no flood. It almost sounds like a message to industrial investors to say, "Per your request, we are gambling our 2012 - 2013 rice harvest on a normal rainfall, so your factories have zero chance of damage,"

I do not blame anyone for having a bit of fun at the expense of a person who claims to be able to forecast the weather six months form now. I mean...it is funny in a silly way.

So, back to my question. Is there a relationship between reservoir levels, and is the level of the Chao Phraya an indicator?

Straight to the point. The answer is "no". Major dams water releases lag the current rainfalls by a year. If you see the Chao Pharaya water level high at any observed section for a very long period, one of the conclusions you can draw is there must be a lot of water collected by dams last year.

Edited April 27, 2012 by ResX

[ResX]

Meanwhile dam levels seem to be getting mighty low.

Methinks they have orders to get rid of the water to stem the threat of floods. So if this is a drought year, they will be two for two on water mismanagement.

Welcome to Circus Thailand.

I have mentioned in one of my past posts that the first and foremost important thing for water management authorities in Thailand have to do is to define the maximum size of floods they want to deal with. Failure to do so the problem that you have mentioned is one of the very likely consequences.

A major dam is designed to have both capabilities, namely capability to deal with the calculated extreme flood and cabability to deal with calculated extreme drought. The dam storage is sized up so that the dam can serve better even the two come one after another. The two shall be balanced. If any any attempt to make the dam to take bigger flood than the anticipated design value then the dam may fail in the event of calculated extreme drought strikes. And vise versa.

In 2011, most of major dams in Thailand were operated in a manner that as if there could have been extreme drought beyond the design extreme drought. That explains why they used all the storages to store waters to a point that there was zero reserve for flood control. What happened after that? I think you know what.

Any dam has its limits. Please stay within the limits.

Edited April 27, 2012 by ResX

[Ron19]

There now are drought conditions over a large part of the north after the two largest dams released large amounts of water which was allowed to run out to sea (causing some minor flooding on the way) and farmers were not allowed to use any of it for irrigation.What is going on?

[ResX]

There now are drought conditions over a large part of the north after the two largest dams released large amounts of water which was allowed to run out to sea (causing some minor flooding on the way) and farmers were not allowed to use any of it for irrigation.What is going on?

They know only one part of the strory.. To prevent major floods to occur. Then they become obsess and desparate.

Edited April 27, 2012 by ResX

[Ron19]

Personally I don't think there will be bad floods this year because we just haven't had anything like the rain in the North that we had already had by this time last year. Last year it started raining on March 1st and rained almost every other day in large volumes until October. All that water ran South and became the top up for what had already accumulated there. This year it has barely rained at all yet.

In the final analysis nature will decide the issue and if there are no floods it will certainly not be due to the efforts of the current Government. Of course if there are no floods we all know that they will be congratulating themselves for a magnificent job done !

I can't disagree with anything you have said.Well stated.

[Skywalker69]

There now are drought conditions over a large part of the north after the two largest dams released large amounts of water which was allowed to run out to sea (causing some minor flooding on the way) and farmers were not allowed to use any of it for irrigation.What is going on?

Thailand is run by ignorant people, that´s what´s going on.

[sirchai]

No problem. When floods arrive we push them away with yellow submarines and speed boats... ..

[corkman]

This year I think drought is going to be a problem.

With even higher price´s on crops, fruits and God knows what else.

Have no fear the Pardon Thaksin Party will come to the rescue. I'm suprised they are not using boats to force the water back up the rivers to the drought areas for irrigation.

Good plan - of course now that it has been proposed by a farang, it will be dismissed

[corkman]

Personally I don't think there will be bad floods this year because we just haven't had anything like the rain in the North that we had already had by this time last year. Last year it started raining on March 1st and rained almost every other day in large volumes until October. All that water ran South and became the top up for what had already accumulated there. This year it has barely rained at all yet.

In the final analysis nature will decide the issue and if there are no floods it will certainly not be due to the efforts of the current Government. Of course if there are no floods we all know that they will be congratulating themselves for a magnificent job done !

I believe the formal description for governemnt policy is "run with the fox, and hunt with the hound".