Flood alert as Amnart Charoen reservoir set to release water

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Flood alert as Amnart Charoen reservoir set to release water

By The Nation

 

People living along a canal downstream from the Amnart Charoen reservoir have been warned of possible flash flooding as officials have to release water from it over fears the reservoir may overflow in the next round of heavy rains.

 

Kiartisak Phadwang, director of the Amnart Charoen Irrigation Office, said days of heavy rains have caused water to flow into the Puttha Utthayan reservoir in Mueang district and it is already at full capacity.

 

He said heavy rains are expected so the authorities have to rush to release the water to free capacity for new rain waters.

As a result, the released water may cause flash flooding downstream, he said.

 

Meanwhile, Songphan Chansawang, chief agriculture officer of Amnart Charoen, said his office had surveyed flood damage in seven districts and found that 16,665 families in 448 villages in 54 tambon were affected. The flood also damaged 68,200 rai of farmland in the province, he added.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30324179

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-18

[NCC1701A]

wow. this flood control planning thing must be hard because they keep getting it wrong every year.

 

 

[YetAnother]

37 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

wow. this flood control planning thing must be hard because they keep getting it wrong every year.

 

 

agreed; water management is nothing short of awful here; and they have a lengthy dry season to adjust things as needed, but astonishingly don't do so; since thailand is so good at copying, why dont they copy india's water management schemes ?

[impulse]

42 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

wow. this flood control planning thing must be hard because they keep getting it wrong every year.

 

That's what happens when you try to export more rice than Mother Nature will let you grow consistently, given that it takes a ton of water to raise a kg of rice.  If you keep enough water in the reservoirs for that second (3rd, 4th?) crop, you risk flooding.  If you release it gradually to prevent flooding, you may not have enough when you need it- to get to that magic export number (and keep the farmers from convoying to BKK to protest).

 

[SkyNets]

Thai people are very proud of the fact they have "never been colonized", but when I'm told this I just smile and think well most of your problems would of been sorted out along time ago.

[impulse]

3 hours ago, SkyNets said:

Thai people are very proud of the fact they have "never been colonized", but when I'm told this I just smile and think well most of your problems would of been sorted out along time ago.

 

Colonization didn't work out so well for Indo China, the Dutch East Indies, the Phil's, most of Latin America and most of Sub Saharan Africa.  Don't even get me started on the Middle East.  Went okay for North America, Australia and New Zealand once they subjugated the pesky brown people, though.

 

[Moonlover]

7 hours ago, YetAnother said:

agreed; water management is nothing short of awful here; and they have a lengthy dry season to adjust things as needed, but astonishingly don't do so; since thailand is so good at copying, why dont they copy india's water management schemes ?

Maybe you should read this and think again!

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40975232

[Moonlover]

7 hours ago, SkyNets said:

Thai people are very proud of the fact they have "never been colonized", but when I'm told this I just smile and think well most of your problems would of been sorted out along time ago.

Those colonialists and their descendants still seem to be having a bit of trouble with the Mississippi don't they!

 

And actually the Mississippi's problems are very similar to Thailand's. and equally intractable.

[tryasimight]

12 hours ago, YetAnother said:

agreed; water management is nothing short of awful here; and they have a lengthy dry season to adjust things as needed, but astonishingly don't do so; since thailand is so good at copying, why dont they copy india's water management schemes ?

Errr...there might be bugger all water in the dry season..... that's why its called the dry season. The dams may be pretty well empty.

[tryasimight]

Australia is a pretty well developed country but still has floods. Trust me when a cyclone or a decent tropical storm hits and dumps buckets loads of rain the plans of mice and men go out the window, It floods.

 

All the waffling of expats on here makes no difference.....it still floods.

Some mitigation can be arranged but when all the dams are full......here comes the water.

A lot of European expats may find this hard to understand....the weather patterns here are very,very different to Europe.

Typically the Atlantic storms come across frequently...so there is rain or snow depending on the season. 

In the tropics (not the equatorial regions...they are different again) it tends to be all or nothing.

Drought or pissing down.

Very difficult to manage.

Do we store a lot of water for the dry season and risk running out of capacity to store the flood water when the  wet season comes?.

Or do we let it all go to create space for the expected flood waters, and risk drought for farms and people in the dry season?.

 

Not so easy is it?

 

Herding cats is easier

Edited August 18, 2017 by tryasimight

[Nord X]

14 hours ago, impulse said:

 

That's what happens when you try to export more rice than Mother Nature will let you grow consistently, given that it takes a ton of water to raise a kg of rice.  If you keep enough water in the reservoirs for that second (3rd, 4th?) crop, you risk flooding.  If you release it gradually to prevent flooding, you may not have enough when you need it- to get to that magic export number (and keep the farmers from convoying to BKK to protest).

 

That's total garbage. The current government policy as of planting season 2016 is to cut rice production by 25% of the 5 year average to 27 million tonnes. Also the 20-year national strategy is to switch 500,000 rai of rice cultivation land to other crops, the government have also allocated eight billion baht for the provision of soft loans to farmers to switch from growing rice to growing maize on two million rai of agricultural land.

[Lunchbob]

The water must be spread and sunk in many small reservoirs and ponds along the path toward sink.