Ayutthaya Placed On Flood Watch

[webfact]

Ayutthaya placed on flood watch

BANGKOK, Sept 11 – The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department warned of potential flooding in six Ayutthaya districts due to heavy rain and northern run-off.

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department Director-General Wiboon Sanguanpong said heavy rain in upper Thailand caused accumulating northern run-off flowing downstream to the central region.

The water level in the country's major rivers has increased as well as in tributaries in the central province of Ayutthaya, posing risks of potential flooding in low-lying areas today.

Local residents are advised to keep watch on the rising waters, to reinforce sandbag embankments and to move their belongings, especially electrical appliances and other valuables to higher ground.

Meanwhile, in Nakhon Sawan, Wisarn Wasuntaraporn, provincial irrigation director said flooding from Mae Wong national park flowed into many rivers and may affect people living along the Ping, Yom, Nan and Chao Phraya rivers in the province. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-09-11

[Payboy]

Local residents are advised to keep watch on the rising waters, to reinforce sandbag embankments and to move their belongings, especially electrical appliances and other valuables to higher ground.

Is it already that time of the year again?

[kingstonkid]

Yep. I am watching the klong in front of CHokChai school it as about 3 feet then they get wet AGAIN.

[MikeyIdea]

Local residents are advised to keep watch on the rising waters, to reinforce sandbag embankments and to move their belongings, especially electrical appliances and other valuables to higher ground.

Is it already that time of the year again?

Well, it's actually a bit early. What we see now is because of the very heavy rain we had the last few days but if it is not followed up by 3-4 more typhoons, then it won't cause any prolonged flooding

And it wil take more than that to cause the same problems as last year

[MauriceVanTine]

Have they allready maxed out the resevors ?

[SICHONSTEVE]

Have they allready maxed out the resevors ?

Depends on how it might affect Thaksin's exotic rice crop paddies in the North!!!!

[Ayutthaya69]

i am so happy to not te be there in Ayutthaya last years i was there so terrible so thats why i decide to move in Surin no more Ayutthaya for me

[SICHONSTEVE]

i am so happy to not te be there in Ayutthaya last years i was there so terrible so thats why i decide to move in Surin no more Ayutthaya for me

Are you going to change your 'moniker' to Surin69 now???

[MauriceVanTine]

I am looking at the Mae Wong river here in Mae wong it is higher then I have ever seen it however according to the wife it is still @ 4 foot lower then last years peek. Causing problems around Lat Yao all ready.

[pointoffew]

So why this email alert headline

"Sukhothai, Ayutthaya flood worsens"

[LuckyLew]

Do not worry, the great smart people running this country said there would be no floods this year.

Really feel sorry for the residents of Ayyathuya, having to rely on a bunch of idiots a crooks to

ensure they stay dry

[Buchholz]

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department warned of potential flooding in six Ayutthaya districts

The Governor of Ayutthaya province announced this afternoon that six districts of his province have been hit by flooding and has ordered district chiefs to provide assistance to those areas.

.

.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Buchholz

[belg]

time to buy a pig's head to give to bhrama, the safest way not to get flooded, if you believe thais

[Thai at Heart]

"Flood watch", actually means to stand back and watch it flood.

The entire system to keep Bangkok dry is based on this part of the country having to go under. Always was, always will be.

[longstebe]

How is everything guys?

It just so happens the wifey is there with her university on a field trip. I'm a bit concerned.

Sent from my Nexus S using Thaivisa Connect App

[ResX]

Local residents are advised to keep watch on the rising waters, to reinforce sandbag embankments and to move their belongings, especially electrical appliances and other valuables to higher ground.

Is it already that time of the year again?

Well, it's actually a bit early. What we see now is because of the very heavy rain we had the last few days but if it is not followed up by 3-4 more typhoons, then it won't cause any prolonged flooding

And it wil take more than that to cause the same problems as last year

The same problem like last year to me is far fetched. But then the current flood control and mitigation is only 50% better than the last year. Thanks to additional storage margins >10 billion cubic meters at Bhumibol and Sirkit. Other than this, there is practically no significant improvement that can be relied on. The drainage tests had little thing to do with the seasonal floods. They are good to deal with localized flash floods.

If you are assuming there is going to be a flood of the same intensity and duration like the 2012 flood, you are going the the effected area is about 40-60% of the last year's effected area. Therefore don't rely on improvement in water management that much. You better rely on the odd is overwhelming with you. The flood of the size equivalent to the 2011 has return probability at most 2%.

If we are assuming the biggest flood is 50 year (the 2011 floods) for the Chao Pharaya has intensity of 15 billion cubic meters over 14 days duration, then the biggest flood that has return frequency 7 times in 50 years will be around 8 billion cubic meters that falls within the same duration. This is more realistic flood that might strike the Chao Pharaya this year. You can see the run up for such flood by now, I suppose.

What happens if the 8 billion cubic meters of flood water will hit the entire cHao Pharaya this year? (Note that the odd is less than 14% chances to see the flood at the Chao Pharaya to exceed 8-10 billion cubic meters in 14 days). Do you think the dams in the north that hold at least 10 billion cubic meters of storage margin can help a lot? You hope so but unfortunately at most 4 billion cubic meters of flood water can be expected to fall upstream to these two dams in the north. Another 4 billion cubic meters of flood waters will be flowing downstream to the dams. How the authorities plan to deal with them? I hope I can answer this question.

Edited September 11, 2012 by ResX

[Haacker]

I don't undrestand why the press is making a big deal out of flooding. This has been going on for thousands of years. All the Thai Government can do is study the problem and try to make the damage less. The Government is not as powerful as nature. She will always do thing that can not be anticipated. If you live in a country that is subject to monsoons, then flooding is part of the game. Live with it!

[Baerboxer]

Here we go again!

Does Yingluck know the story of King Canute and the sea? Maybe she will command any floods to cease, just like she commands various Ministers to ensure certain things get done and results delivered. Should have about the same effect.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Do not worry, the great smart people running this country said there would be no floods this year.

Really feel sorry for the residents of Ayyathuya, having to rely on a bunch of idiots a crooks to

ensure they stay dry

Just who voted these so called 'bunch of idiots into power????

[Chicog]

I don't undrestand why the press is making a big deal out of flooding. This has been going on for thousands of years. All the Thai Government can do is study the problem and try to make the damage less. The Government is not as powerful as nature. She will always do thing that can not be anticipated. If you live in a country that is subject to monsoons, then flooding is part of the game. Live with it!

You haven't seen the LA storm drain system then?

How many Billions of baht were allocated to this last year, and how much has actually been spent on Flood management rather than Ferrari Mondeos?

From January:

BANGKOK | Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:06am EST

(Reuters) - Thailand's government has drawn up a 300 billion baht ($9.4 billion) plan for water management and flood prevention schemes along the Chao Phraya river basin to prevent a repeat of devastating floods last year.

Outgoing Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala has said another 50 billion baht could be spent on 17 related river basins and other infrastructure.

Here are key points:

PROJECTS

* The Chao Phraya river basin will be divided into two areas. The first area of 35,000 sq km is most vulnerable to floods. It is home to 18 million people, with 80 percent agricultural land and the rest for residential, commercial and industrial use, a statement from the Deputy Prime Minister's office showed.

The second area of 123,000 sq km is outside the flood zone. It is home to 7 million people, living mostly in forest and agricultural areas and less likely to be badly flooded.

* A 10 billion baht plan for forest restoration and conservation plus the construction of dikes along upstream areas of the Ping, Nan, Wang, Yom and Sakae Krang river basins. The Ping and Nan are main tributaries of the Chao Phraya, which flows from north to south through Bangkok.

* 50 billion baht to build reservoirs along the Yom, Nan, Sakae Krang and Pa Sak river basins.

* 60 billion baht to convert 2 million rai (800,000 acres) of Chao Phraya plains farmland for the retention of 6-10 billion cubic metres of floodwater.

* 120 billion baht for the construction of floodways and flood diversion channels allowing flows of at least 1,500 million cubic metres per second. Immediate work this year would include the enhancement of dikes, sluice gates and canals.

* 50 billion baht for city and land use planning.

* 7 billion baht for "the enhancement of rivers and dikes."

* 3 billion baht for database and warning systems and the establishment of related organizations.

FUNDING

* On January 10, the cabinet approved a decree that authorizes the government to seek funding of 350 billion baht ($11 billion) for projects that involve rebuilding and flood prevention work.

As a comparison, the government's budget deficit for the fiscal year to September 2012 was originally supposed to be 350 billion baht. The cabinet approved an increase to 400 billion in mid-October to allow it to spend more on reconstruction.

* Deputy Prime Minister and incoming Finance Minister Kittirat Na Ranong said at the weekend that some of the funding would come from overseas sources, with technical assistance, implying it would be a multilateral lender such as the World Bank.

However, he said most of the funding would come from local sources. He did not specify whether this would be from bond sales, bank loans or other sources.

He said 17 billion baht of the spending would be accounted for in the 2011/12 fiscal budget.

* He has said the borrowing would raise the ratio of public debt to GDP by just 2-3 percentage points. Debt is expected to rise to 43.5 percent of GDP this fiscal year from 41.03 percent in October. By law it can go as high as 60 percent.

* The cabinet also agreed to support the establishment of a flood-related insurance fund. The Finance Ministry would seek funding of 50 billion baht for this.

* In addition, the Bank of Thailand is empowered to provide 300 billion baht ($9.45 billion) in soft loans to help manufacturers and individuals hurt by the floods. The Bank of Thailand could ask commercial banks to provide 30 percent of the total, Kittirat said.

* To help with the funding, the government has, by decree, shifted responsibility for servicing 1.14 trillion baht ($35.9 billion) in debt owed by the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) to the central bank.

The FIDF is a special vehicle used to bail out banks during the Asian crisis. Its interest costs amount to more than 60 billion baht a year, paid until now from the fiscal budget.

The principal was already the responsibility of the central bank. It was supposed to pay this down from its profits, but in most recent years the central bank has made a loss.

The Bank of Thailand had opposed the transfer of responsibility.

Outgoing Finance Minister Thirachai has said the ministry would keep issuing bonds to roll over matured FIDF debt until the central bank came up with a plan to pay it off. About 340 billion baht of FIDF bonds will mature this year, he added.

Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul has said the commitment to continue issuing government bonds to cover the FIDF debt ensured the central bank would not have to print money to cover it, which could have fuelled inflation.

(Compiled by Ploy Ten Kate and Orathai Sriring; Editing by Alan Raybould)

From July, Six months later:

Thailand flood prevention, water projects worth US$9.4b up for grabs

News Desk

The Nation

Publication Date : 10-07-2012

Thailand's Water and Flood Management Committee (WFMC) is offering 300 billion baht (US$9.45) worth of projects to private firms in return for proposals on sustainable water-management or flood-prevention systems.

The WFMC office started handing out terms of reference (ToR) documents to interested companies yesterday.

"The documents will be available until July 23," Science Minister Plodprasob Surassawadee said in his capacity as WFMC chair. "We will brief the interested companies on July 24."

He said the budget would come from loans the government had obtained from Thai financial institutions. They would fund eight projects in the Chao Phraya River Basin, six projects for water basins in the Northeast, and one project in coastal areas.

Plodprasob said the overall picture of the projects should be clearer in the next three months. So far, 25 companies, including construction giant Ch Karnchang, and firms from Germany and Singapore, picked up the ToR documents yesterday.

"The construction of these projects will take at least five years," he said.

Plodprasob said he was confident the projects would give Thailand perfect water-drainage and early-warning systems, as well as good town planning.

Town planning is a key focus of the WFMC and Plodprasob yesterday named Pitipong Peungboon na Ayutthaya as chief of a working panel on town-planning systems. Peungboon now heads a subcommittee on short-term flood-prevention measures for the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management (SCWRM).

"We will have to clearly designate floodways and water-retention areas. Urban expansion should not spread to low-lying areas," Plodprasob said before attending the meeting.

He expected improved town planning would prevent the construction of any facility that blocked the natural flow of water. According to the minister, landowners should be required to seek prior permission from authorities for any land-filling projects are launched.

Plodprasob yesterday invited representatives from the Office of the National Economics and Social Development Board, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning and SCWRM to a meeting at the Science Ministry to discuss how to improve town planning.

State agencies have focused hard on flood prevention since the flood crisis late last year ravaged vast areas, causing hundreds of deaths, submerging industrial estates and the homes of millions.

Plodprasob said the government was confident the country would avoid devastating floods this year as dredging and the improvement of canals was already between 80 and 90 per cent complete.

"We are raising the height of roads that can serve as flood walls by between one to 1.5 metres for a combined stretch of 500 kilometres in Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, and Bangkok," he said.

These short-term measures are being implemented under a 50 billion baht ($1.57 billion) budget.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Chicog

[SOTIRIOS]

..disgraceful.....empty promises.....travel....shopping.....photo opportunities........

[jbrain]

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department warned of potential flooding in six Ayutthaya districts

The Governor of Ayutthaya province announced this afternoon that six districts of his province have been hit by flooding and has ordered district chiefs to provide assistance to those areas.

.

.

He must be wrong.

Come on repeat after me ;

There will be no floods this year .........All together now

[Thait Spot]

I guess Yingluck and her collection box wielding acolytes must be hoping above everything that the tens of billions of dollars spent on building massive concrete walls was spent effectively and that the neuronically challenged Plodprasop is not declaring an inundation as being an "act of God" and not a flood as he did in Sukhothai this week.

[rubl]

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department warned of potential flooding in six Ayutthaya districts

The Governor of Ayutthaya province announced this afternoon that six districts of his province have been hit by flooding and has ordered district chiefs to provide assistance to those areas.

He must be wrong.

Come on repeat after me ;

There will be no floods this year .........All together now

(Full speed ahead, Mr. Barkley, full speed ahead!

Full speed over here, sir!

All together! All together!

Aye, aye, sir, fire!

Captain! Captain!)

As we live a life of ease(life of ease)

Every one of us(every one of us) has all we need,(has all we need)

Sky of blue,(sky of blue) and sea green,(sea of green)

In our yellow(In our yellow) submarine.(submarine) ( Haha! )

[BillyBobThai]

The public needs to collect all of the people who scimmed money from the state on these flood projects, put two 44 caliber lead slugs in the head, and through them in the river they failed to fix.

Edited September 11, 2012 by BillyBobThai

[Mosha]

Do not worry, the great smart people running this country said there would be no floods this year.

Really feel sorry for the residents of Ayyathuya, having to rely on a bunch of idiots a crooks to

ensure they stay dry

Just who voted these so called 'bunch of idiots into power????

What do you mean so called? Don't forget the PM did say her cabinet were the best for the job (or words to that effect.) You and I might say if they are the best, Thailand is in deep do do

[SICHONSTEVE]

Do not worry, the great smart people running this country said there would be no floods this year.

Really feel sorry for the residents of Ayyathuya, having to rely on a bunch of idiots a crooks to

ensure they stay dry

Just who voted these so called 'bunch of idiots into power????

What do you mean so called? Don't forget the PM did say her cabinet were the best for the job (or words to that effect.) You and I might say if they are the best, Thailand is in deep do do

I don't know why they don't do an experiment and hand the running of the country to a randomly chosen class of school children for a month.

I cannot imagine that they would do worse than this bunch of imbecilic buffoons!!!.

[Dap]

Have they allready maxed out the resevors ?

Nah, but it's gonna' be interesting later in the season when and if the resevoirs do start filling dangerously. Can only wait to see what will happen.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Dap

[Uddernonsense]

I won't be surprised if they allowed the flood waters to hit.

Anyone noticed the sudden surge in luxury cars on the roads?

Anyone doing the maths - one baht on every bottle of water?

[katana]

Pic of 52 year old Mrs Rungarun Bunyakhet, making her way around in a home made sofa boat today, after the Mae Nam Noi in Ayutthaya broke its banks and flooded.

http://www.thairath....ewspaper/290178