Thai floods kill 21 and hit rubber production

[webfact]

Thai floods kill 21 and hit rubber production

 

People walk in a flooded street at Muang district in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, southern Thailand, January 6, 2017. REUTERS/Wirittipon Withandetsit

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Widespread flooding in Thailand's south has killed 21 people, hit rubber production in the region and shut down infrastructure, officials said on Monday, as the military government increased aid to flood-affected areas.

 

Thailand's wet season usually ends in late November and heavy rain and flooding are rare in January. Unseasonably heavy rain has hit 12 out of 67 provinces, officials said.

 

"We have sent soldiers, police and the Ministry of the Interior to ease the situation," Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.

 

The death toll from the floods stood at 21 on Monday with more than 330,000 households affected, according to the Department Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

 

The department said that the main airport in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat would remain shut for the foreseeable future. A rail route from the Thai capital Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat has also been suspended.

 

Southern Thailand is a major rubber-producing area and the floods have come at a particularly bad time for farmers, said Uthai Sonlucksub, president of the Natural Rubber Council of Thailand.

 

"This the worst impact we have had in the area in 10 years. The floods are very heavy. The problem is this year we've seen both drought and flooding so it has been disastrous for rubber farmers," Uthai told Reuters.

 

Uthai said that rubber prices would increase this year because demand is set to exceed supply.

 

"I've had orders from China but we aren't even sure if we can meet these orders because of the havoc the floods have caused," he said.

 

"If they buy, it'll be at higher-than-expected prices."

 

Widespread floods in 2011 killed more than 900 people and caused major disruption to industry, cutting economic growth that year to just 0.1 percent.

 

(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Cod Satrusayang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-09

[webfact]

Heaviest rain in 30 years: PM 
By The Nation

 

A man tries to push his car from flooded Bang Sa Phan Intesection in Prachuap Khiri Khan late Monday night/FM 91 Traffic radio station's photo.

 

King voices concern as southerners brace for more downpours and death toll hits 21

 

Eleven provinces were warned to expect more heavy downpours yesterday and today, as many areas of the South remained inundated following the heaviest rains in 30 years.

 

[Earlier developments]

 

The severe flooding came after “the worst rainfall in more than 30 years”, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters yesterday, as the death toll reached 21.

 

His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, meanwhile, has voiced concern for people affected by the southern floods, Deputy Premier Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday.

 

Privy councillors Paiboon Koomchaya, Dapong Rattanasuwan and Wirat Chinvinijkul met with the prime minister at Government House for 40 minutes yesterday, during which they relayed the King’s concern and inquired about how the government will aid victims in need of food and shelter, Wissanu said. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30303801

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-10

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Oh I thought the 2011 flood was worse.

[1130bobs]

it just seemed that way because it was 6 years ago, so the people were younger, and shorter, so the water seemed higher in pictures!??!  

[timewilltell]

Floods in 2011 all Thaksins fault but the floods this year are just the fault of the weather.  You gotta love the people here.

[dinsdale]

1 hour ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

Oh I thought the 2011 flood was worse.

That wasn't in January. Winter. The dry season. Been raining mostly light drizzle but sometimes heavier for the past 3 days here (just sw of bkk but seems to be widespread) I've been in Thailand 14yrs and have never known it to rain in Jan. All Thais I talk to have never seen this before. Welcome to climate change. 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

22 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

That wasn't in January. Winter. The dry season. Been raining mostly light drizzle but sometimes heavier for the past 3 days here (just sw of bkk but seems to be widespread) I've been in Thailand 14yrs and have never known it to rain in Jan. All Thais I talk to have never seen this before. Welcome to climate change. 

If you make a statement "heaviest rain in 30 years", like in the article, it includes rain in all seasons doesn't it? You can look up rainfall data and you will see that rain is common in the southern areas this time of year, Nakhon Si Thammarat get 6 inches rain on average during January.  This year the rain is more severe and have moved up more north than normal, but about 3 years ago Chumphon also had floods in the "dry season". People just tend to forget what happened a few years back. As for climate change - the climate is for ever changing and thus by implication we are always experiencing climate changes. As for what is causing that change is another matter. But don't confuse weather changes with climate change.

[trogers]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

That wasn't in January. Winter. The dry season. Been raining mostly light drizzle but sometimes heavier for the past 3 days here (just sw of bkk but seems to be widespread) I've been in Thailand 14yrs and have never known it to rain in Jan. All Thais I talk to have never seen this before. Welcome to climate change. 

 

This time last year we had constant warnings of impending droughts...

 

So, climate change has brought about 6-year cycles of droughts and floods?

[Chris Lawrence]

The big winner this year is that no one will be responsible for the flooding!

[Seligne2]

2 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

If you make a statement "heaviest rain in 30 years", like in the article, it includes rain in all seasons doesn't it? You can look up rainfall data and you will see that rain is common in the southern areas this time of year, Nakhon Si Thammarat get 6 inches rain on average during January.  This year the rain is more severe and have moved up more north than normal, but about 3 years ago Chumphon also had floods in the "dry season". People just tend to forget what happened a few years back. As for climate change - the climate is for ever changing and thus by implication we are always experiencing climate changes. As for what is causing that change is another matter. But don't confuse weather changes with climate change.

Climate is the aggregation of weather patterns over a significant period.  Climates have changed in the past, but the contemporary alteration of the composition of the atmosphere is without precedent in terms of its extent and the rapidity of the change. We are unsure what the changes in atmospheric composition will bring, but the odds are that they won't be beneficial.

[Seligne2]

1 hour ago, trogers said:

 

This time last year we had constant warnings of impending droughts...

 

So, climate change has brought about 6-year cycles of droughts and floods?

Scientists for years have been warning us that atmospheric changes will bring about more extreme weather events: droughts, floods, storms.

[khomlong1]

4 hours ago, dinsdale said:

That wasn't in January. Winter. The dry season. Been raining mostly light drizzle but sometimes heavier for the past 3 days here (just sw of bkk but seems to be widespread) I've been in Thailand 14yrs and have never known it to rain in Jan. All Thais I talk to have never seen this before. Welcome to climate change. 

Same here. Been living in Lopburi for 14 years and cannot remember a wet January like now.

[mtls2005]

At least rubber prices should bounce up?

[Grubster]

18 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

Oh I thought the 2011 flood was worse.

It was as a few more people live in Bangkok, but remember this PM said the Bangkok flood was predictable. Seems he lost his crystal ball.

[NoshowJones]

18 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

Oh I thought the 2011 flood was worse.

No, not the same, from what I can see, in 2011, water came down from the north causing floods upcountry as well as parts of Bangkok like around Don Muang airport. These floods today are caused by heavy continuous rainfall where the floods are actually taking place, and from the reports, the first for 30 years.

[ThaiWai]

The guy in the photo with the rain poncho is priceless.  I guess waders are a foreign concept here.  Not to mention the boys splashing about in today's "pool" which is filled with the water from yesterday's toilet.  Note to self:  Avoid used car sales in Nakhon for next 10 years.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

6 hours ago, possum1931 said:

No, not the same, from what I can see, in 2011, water came down from the north causing floods upcountry as well as parts of Bangkok like around Don Muang airport. These floods today are caused by heavy continuous rainfall where the floods are actually taking place, and from the reports, the first for 30 years.

No much of the water are mountain run off. Look at a map and the waterways draining the water. If you read newspapers you will see there were mudslides in mountain villages as well as warnings that the mountain run off will take a number of days to drain away.