Samui Island Is Preparing In Advance For Flooding

[Jai Dee]

Samui island is preparing in advance for flooding

Samui island municipality is preparing for a flood after continuous downpours over the past 1-2 days in Koh Samui (อำเภอเกาะสมุย) district.

Mr. Warakorn Rattanarak (วรากรณ์ รัตนรักษ์), the mayor of Samui island municipality, said the raining over the past few days and the warning from the Suratthani Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office has prompted the municipality to initiate clean-up of storm drains around the island.

This will be carried out during October 22-31.

Mr. Warakorn said people in Samui who are affected by flood can request assistance from the Samui island municipality at all times, by calling the hotline 199.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 21 October 2006

[taxexile]

Mr. Warakorn said people in Samui who are affected by flood can request assistance from the Samui island municipality at all times, by calling the hotline 199.

after last years flooding and damage down there , i'm sure mr. warakorn and his dedicated workforce will have been busy all year putting into place all necessary measures and enforcing all relevant regulations regarding hillside deforestation and dredging run off canals in order to avoid a repeat of the disastorous flash flooding that occured about the same time last year.

hopefully no lives will be lost , nobody will be injured and no property will be damaged if the rainfall is as heavy as expected.

[meatgrowler]

Mr. Warakorn said people in Samui who are affected by flood can request assistance from the Samui island municipality at all times, by calling the hotline 199.

after last years flooding and damage down there , i'm sure mr. warakorn and his dedicated workforce will have been busy all year putting into place all necessary measures and enforcing all relevant regulations regarding hillside deforestation and dredging run off canals in order to avoid a repeat of the disastorous flash flooding that occured about the same time last year.

hopefully no lives will be lost , nobody will be injured and no property will be damaged if the rainfall is as heavy as expected.

[/q

good idea mayor,i sincerely hope this work is done,especially the turning into soi modjin nr tesco,it was a nightmare lastyear.....

[southbot]

Mr. Warakorn said people in Samui who are affected by flood can request assistance from the Samui island municipality at all times, by calling the hotline 199.

after last years flooding and damage down there , i'm sure mr. warakorn and his dedicated workforce will have been busy all year putting into place all necessary measures and enforcing all relevant regulations regarding hillside deforestation and dredging run off canals in order to avoid a repeat of the disastorous flash flooding that occured about the same time last year.

hopefully no lives will be lost , nobody will be injured and no property will be damaged if the rainfall is as heavy as expected.

From what I have seen SINCE the flooding last year nothing was done at all until a few months ago when construction of new drains here and there began.

Most of these new drains are finished and have been built so poorly that they have caused a few "small" motorcyle and car accidents already.

In Lamai parts of the edge of the metal grid stick out of the road about 5.5 cm, hit that on a bike and you are down, hit it in a car and you would probably blow out a tyre.

The slats in the metal grids run in the same direction as the road so some motorcycles have already gone down by simply driving over the grid in wet weather.

From what I can see out there, most of the drains are already half blocked with sand.

In the Bophut area the same problems exist with the added bonus feature that the very drain works put there recently to save the road have now begun to undermine the road. The water leaks out of them and into the substrata beneath the road which is mainly sand. The sand washes away and the road begins to collapse. This is already happening in several spots.

Very little if anything was done all year to curb rampant land clearing on the hills.

I saw no canal substantial cleaning or any other activity until a couple months ago.

I would think that when the big rains come some big problems are going to come with them.

Poor (if any) planning, bad or no engineering, knee jerk reactions, misinformed decisions, this is what I see a lot of. Oh, and wasted money and time building super-sub-standard drainage systems.

Floods are comin'.

[taxexile]

so its business as usual on devils island then.

[southbot]

Yeah, business as usual but I would not quite call it "devil's island" just yet.

I mean, I ain't behaved in a due devilish manner for quite some years now! ;-)

Regards the " business as usual" road drainage.... I wish I could consult to them, I would do that for free.

I know a lot about drainage design for tropical climates.

But, under recent changes to immigration and other laws, I am no longer ALLOWED to be a consultant.

Now I am a "computer and engineering technical expert".

So says my WP now in any case.

Hey, no consultants in Thailand now, what will that result in? Less consultation?

Hmmmm?

Edited October 21, 2006 by southbot

[Rooo]

Simple solution folks.Don't like it? What are YOU doing about it?If you don't like Samui with all it's warts JUST GOOOOOOOOOOO.Besides criticizing have any of you actually gone out & done something about it?

With all the SO CALLED farang know how here, the best I can see is ZERO ZILCH contribution.

So my advice is sit back enjoy it with all it's problems.You want the perfect roads,footpaths you are in the wrong place.

How easy we try & transform the places we come too ,like the places we left.

[Khun Jean]

Roo,

Are you serious with that post!

You mean actually DOING something. Which is not ALLOWED btw.

Or do you mean calling the mayor or some other 'official'? lmao

I did many things that resulted in ZILCH ZERO, ok i have to be true here something did happen. They IGNORED it.

So i left.

[John 1]

Why shouldn't people complain, I pay my taxes and expect to receive decent services such as road's, Thais living in my country can complain, why are we just accepting the crap that's dished out, it's no good saying do something about it we can't, all we can do is complain to the various departments. Like when I have a problem with the electricity supply I call them and ask for it to be sorted. This crap about leaving if you don't like it here is wearing a bit thin, it's time to stand up and be counted.

[taxexile]

Why shouldn't people complain ?....... because some people see everything on samui through misty rose coloured spectacles and refuse to acknowledge the deficiencies (that can make life so annoying ) that exist there.

complaining and criticism just makes the realities too painfully obvious for those people to bear , and complaints get read by people who may then change their plans to visit the island , causing a dropping off of business.

hence their repeated requests for the naysayers to shut up and leave.

[Rooo]

Why shouldn't people complain ?....... because some people see everything on samui through misty rose coloured spectacles and refuse to acknowledge the deficiencies (that can make life so annoying ) that exist there.

complaining and criticism just makes the realities too painfully obvious for those people to bear , and complaints get read by people who may then change their plans to visit the island , causing a dropping off of business.

hence their repeated requests for the naysayers to shut up and leave.

[mosquitoman]

I totally agree, lets have everythng out in the open, and tell it the way it is, the more people that complain the better, sooner or later things will change, for the better.

Or as we say up north:

If we all stay stum , nowt will happen.

Complain, Complain Compalin, IT WORKS

MM

[Rooo]

I totally agree, lets have everythng out in the open, and tell it the way it is, the more people that complain the better, sooner or later things will change, for the better.

Or as we say up north:

If we all stay stum , nowt will happen.

Complain, Complain Compalin, IT WORKS

MM

Who are you complaining too on this forum?The Samui / Surat Thani public work departments?

[mosquitoman]

Who are you complaining too on this forum?The Samui / Surat Thani public work departments?

Hi Roo,

I am not complaining to anyone in this forum,

I am just trying to encourage other people to complaim in general about services received or lack of service, on these islands, be it from the The Samui / Surat Thani public work departments, a hotel, tour operator etc.

Cheers

MM

[Rooo]

Who are you complaining too on this forum?The Samui / Surat Thani public work departments?

Hi Roo,

I am not complaining to anyone in this forum,

I am just trying to encourage other people to complaim in general about services received or lack of service, on these islands, be it from the The Samui / Surat Thani public work departments, a hotel, tour operator etc.

Cheers

MM

Mosquitoman,

Several months ago we had a discussion on here about that exact subject.My thoughts at the time,as they are now is for business owners & other community bodies to take it up with the powers to be.

What I implied about complaining on this forum is not addressed to you in person.Is just that some people that don't even live on this island,take great joy on rubishing it at every opportunity & if you come up in defence of it, you are simply told the only reason you defend it is because you have business interests here , which by the wayI personally don't have, as many others don't.

Until Samui gets it's own status, you will find that money will be very scarce & priorities are aimed to the mainland.So complaining about these issues here,is preaching to the converted.

As for lack/or bad services from restaurants,tour operators & the like,by all means we all complain about them & I just simply don't use them anymore.Word of mouth is a very powerful tool.

[taxexile]

Word of mouth is a very powerful tool.

exactly , and that is why most people complain.

to spread the news. thats all.

we lived there for a couple of years , but there were many things that we could not tolerate there , and so we moved. we have no reason to rubbish the island , we still own land there.

but i feel i have to take issue with those ( officials , press , residents) who promote the place as a faultless paradise.

these days there really does seem to be a much wider awareness that unless serious action is actually taken ( as opposed to just being spoken about ) then the goose that laid the golden egg will cease to be. that will be a great shame , as there are a number of good people who have invested time and money in order to make a life there without interfering too much with the rights and lives of others.

samui has become a monstrous money making behemoth , trampling over anybody or anything that gets in the way.

visitors rarely get a fair deal......and that is wrong.

[womble]

Tax your claim is not strictly true, your saying that you only rubbish the island to take issue with those that falsely promote the place without admitting it's problems.

Thats just not true, you have from time to time dragged up old issues or any dirt just to create a stir which IMHO is not healthy. By all means debate the problems as they arise, but I beleive your facination with samui is unhealthy.

I'm the first one to admit there are numerous things that should have been addressed months ago that havn't, many of us on here have been waring for the last few years.

There are a few on this forum though that post so negatively with such regularity that it's like hearing a broken record.

And please don't try and make out it's for the good of the island, or to balance the overly optimistic posts from those with business interests.

To me it seems clear that you have a grudge against the island and far too much time on your hands.

[taxexile]

To me it seems clear that you have a grudge against the island and far too much time on your hands.

i do have a lot of time on my hands , as i dont work , and i can be somewhat cynical but i dont have a grudge against samui and am sorry if my posts come across like that.

[tornado40]

I got my house three years ago - and since then there has been a significant amount of building, sand, big trucks and cement mixers etc

Now they are building a new supermarket next door (the place is near Bandon Hospital) and had 3 weeks of the banging noise when putting in the foundations

Even so - I'm back in the UK today - and Samui is still the place that I would rather spend my time.

Have have an optimistic view that in a few years and the building level starts to reduce it should be a great place to be

But back on topic - I saw the floods last November, never seen anything like it before so for one I am pleased they are doing at least something. I somehow think that the new drains being put in are to show willing and that it is hoped the scenes of last Novemeber do not return

We shall see