Sukhothai Undergoes 3D Analysis To Plan Flood Management

[webfact]

INUNDATION

Sukhothai undergoes 3D analysis to plan flood management

JUTARAT THIPNUMPA,

TANATPONG KONGSAI

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Hydro and Agro Infomatics Institute is working on a three-dimensional model of Sukhothai for urban-flood management in collaboration with the Unesco-IHE Institute for Water Education.

"Sukhothai has old-town characteristics. It is difficult to manage water there," director Royol Jitdon told a seminar yesterday.

However, if the move is successful, it might eliminate the need to construct the controversial Kaeng Suea Ten Dam in the Yom River, he said.

While many prominent figures, particularly politicians, have described the dam as crucial to preventing flooding in many central provinces including Sukhothai, environmentalists and other people have claimed the project will cause serious environmental damage.

The water-management challenge in Sukhothai is interesting, so developing a fully workable model for the province, which may take a few years, could be the first step in preparing urban-flood-management models for other provinces, Royol said.

Cameras are mounted on vehicles driving around the town to get a panoramic view and sensors can determine the distance between the vehicles and buildings along the way.

"The 3D images from various angles can be assembled to create a model that will determine water flow in times of inundation and how far the flood water will spread." That could be very useful in planning water and flood management, he said.

The institute has developed seven models such as the Weather Research and Forecasting Model to improve water and flood management in the country. It has worked with many organisations including the Massachusetts Institute of Techno-logy to create useful applications, Royol said. "This year, we spent Bt582 million on developing the national database. It will help in analysing information and making necessary preparations."

Last year, Thailand suffered its worst floods in decades with huge casualties and massive destruction. Seven industrial estates were submerged for months and Bangkok was among the hardest-hit provinces.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is calling on the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department to consider budgeting Bt1.1 billion more to compensate Bangkok residents whose houses were flooded during the 2011 crisis.

"About 100,000 flood victims in Bangkok are still waiting for compensation," city spokesman Wasan Meewong said.

City Hall has explained to the department how the previous budget was already used up to compensate other flood victims, he said. Victims in Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani were still waiting, he added.

The Meteorological Department has predicted thundershowers over about 40 per cent of Bangkok for the next seven days.

-- The Nation 2012-10-16

[asiawatcher]

I would doubt 3D modeling will make any difference - just pull out your theodlight and shoot some levels and that will tell you a lot more than wasting money on fancy tech expenditure. But I guess they have to justify fees to be able to skim...

[ResX]

I would doubt 3D modeling will make any difference - just pull out your theodlight and shoot some levels and that will tell you a lot more than wasting money on fancy tech expenditure. But I guess they have to justify fees to be able to skim...

Yes. You are right. The model is at best is descriptive in nature. At worst, GIGO. At the end of the day the ptential flood water has to be diverted or stored somewhere else.

You don't need a few years to complete the model. An inefficient engineer will take at most one year. The good one may take not more than 4 months. I'm not surprise at all if it may take even less than 2 months. It is about getting the 3-D mapping of the flood plain of interest. Then get one avilable software from the market to run the simulation. Get the results. Finally work on the with stuructural and non structural solutions.