Parts Of Bangkok Drained As Typhoon Nears

[george]

FLOOD PREPARATIONS

Parts of city drained as typhoon nears

Rainfall - not sea tides or Chao Phya - the major factor in whether capital will flood;

Suvarnabhumi 'not in danger area'

BANGKOK: -- The Royal Irrigation Department chief has ordered officials to keep draining water from submerged parts of eastern Bangkok into the Bang Pakong River and the Gulf of Thailand.

The capital will also have to brace itself for Typhoon Xangsane - now battering the Philippines and moving towards the South China Sea - which will affect Thailand's weather on Sunday.

While some areas would suffer from flooding due to heavy rains, the newly opened Suvarnabhumi Airport would not be affected, department chief Samart Chokkanapitak said.

Following the airport's opening yesterday, the department plans to revamp 17 existing canals in eastern Bangkok and construct a new one from Samrong to Chai Talae, located on the coast, to increase water drainage.

Samart insisted the high sea tides and floodwaters from the North - which are passing through the Chao Phya River at a rate of 2,423 cubic metres per second - would not submerge Bangkok.

"The only factor that can cause flooding is heavy rainfall," he said.

Eastern Bangkok's Srinakarin, Pattanakarn and Ramkhamhaeng roads were knee-deep in water after Wednesday night's heavy downpours in Suan Luang, Prawet and Saphan Sung districts. Many residents in small sois were unable to leave home for work, prompting authorities to send trucks to give them a lift.

Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin, who yesterday morning inspected the routes, said officials worked hard to drain floodwaters out of the areas and the situation should be back to normal by this afternoon.

Yesterday morning the Chao Phya River stood at 1.77 metres and was expected to rise to 1.8 metres by the evening, a level the flood barriers could handle, said Apirak.

Apirak called a meeting of 50 district heads to tackle the floods. He said the accumulated rainfall this year was 1,128 millilitres and that Typhoon Xangsane would bring heavy rainfall to Bangkok and the Kingdom's Central, eastern and southern regions.

The Bhumibol, Sirikit and Pasak Jorasit dams were now 90 per cent full and if there was more rain in the North, these dams would have to release water - which would affect Bangkok.

In the meantime, communities located outside the city's flood barriers - such as Bang Phlat district's Soi Charansanitwong 86 and 92 and Bang Sue district's 50 homes under Rama VI bridge - suffered saltwater flooding triggered by the massive seasonal inflows from the Gulf of Thailand. Officials installed pumps to drain the water and were assigned to be on watch for flood conditions 24 hours a day.

Meanwhile, public boat services on San Saeb Canal will be suspended for five days due to the high water level caused by heavy downpours, while Chao Phya River express boats are being told to slow down to reduce the impact on riverside residents.

Pairat Boondam, manager of the Family Transport Ltd - whose 70 craft provide 400 trips per day for 40,000 people - said boats could no longer pass under some bridges and those travelling at speed would cause a tidal surge to wash over riverside properties.

As a result, the company will cease operations for five days, after which time they would assess the flood situation and determine when to resume the service, he said.

Parinya Rakwathin of Chao Phraya Express Boat Co Ltd, which handles 38,000 passengers on weekdays and 30,000 on the weekend, said the company would be running as usual but advised its boat drivers to lower their speed from 15km per hour to 8kph.

--The Nation 2006-09-29

[george]

More rain coming:

Riverside homes swamped

Authorities have been forced to release massive volumes of water from the brimming Pasak Jolasit Dam in Lop Buri, inundating more than 1,000 rai of land downstream.

In Nonthaburi, the whole of Koh Kret - a popular weekend tourist destination in the Chao Phya River - is 50 centimetres under water, as are more than 1,000 riverside homes. Provincial authorities yesterday declared the province a disaster area, making it eligible for emergency assistance.

In hard-hit Sukhothai, three people including a 14-year-old boy drowned. Provincial hospital staff were commuting to work in large trucks because their homes and roads had been submerged.

Saksiri Yoosuk, a senior irrigation official overseeing the dam, said he had no choice but to open the floodgates even though the six provinces to the south, including Bangkok, would be swamped. He said the reservoir was 760 million cubic metres full, near the critical level (790 million cu m).

--The Nation 2006-09-29

[TRD LOVER]

How will this affect the north?? Will ChiangMai be affected at all by this storm??

Is this only a concern for Bangkok?

I need to know for all my animals..I have lots of Thai Ridgeback puppies now..and the TRD hates the rain..we moved from one home that has been under water 10 times this rainy season..

We moved to higher ground, but all the area around me still floods as we are close to the canel road.

Thanks for any input...concerned TRDLOVER

[kojac_phx]

How will this affect the north?? Will ChiangMai be affected at all by this storm??

Is this only a concern for Bangkok?

I need to know for all my animals..I have lots of Thai Ridgeback puppies now..and the TRD hates the rain..we moved from one home that has been under water 10 times this rainy season..

We moved to higher ground, but all the area around me still floods as we are close to the canel road.

Thanks for any input...concerned TRDLOVER

Hard to say at this point, keep checking http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp200618.html for the predicted typhoon path.

KoJaC

[Scott]

Best of luck to everyone. Fortunately, I live on relatively high ground not far from the Chao Phraya River, but have only once seen something even close to flooding and that was a torrential downpour that the drainage system couldn't quite handle. That only lasted about 1/2 hour after the rain stopped.

[wilko]

Is there a forcast for the Eastern Seaboard!?!?!?!

[bubba]

Here is a link for what I have found to be the most detailed and consistently updated typhoon information. Have a look at the "TC Warning Graphic" for Xangsane.

http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html

[george]

BREAKING NEWS:

Nonthaburi Flooded, State Of Emergency

Heavy flooding hit thousands of homes and "Koh Kred"

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85989

[animatic]

Bubba, you beat me to it.

I was going to post this link.

Very comprehensive.

I am on Koh Samui, wso the idea of a typhoon coming

takes on a large respnance.

My rental living space is at 10m up presently,

but relatively inland.

But I am building 90-100m up for a permanent place.

Nothing under 30m from sea level for this boy.

I have been in 3 hurricaines before.

Good luck to all for flooding and winds,

Keep your heads down and your feet dry.

Edited September 29, 2006 by animatic

[skorchio]

Take it from me that Xang sane is the rreal deal. I am sitting under it now, on anchor in the Phillipines; the winds went from zero this morning to 100kph now, and we are 250 miles from the centre. Its been hissing rain for 2 days......who was the tw4t who guaranteed BKK would not flood this year???? talk about setting oneself up......

[CrazyFrog]

Here's an interesting project for Rainfall Forecast in Thailand. For now on, it's mostly available for Bkk!

There's a link also for another website to access all the Thailand regions but I have trouble with!

If you're lucky, the site will work!

Here's the one for BKK: http://www.wap.ait.ac.th/realtimeskvmain.html

Here's the other one: http://www.rain.ait.ac.th/