Bangkok exodus as floodwater rise.

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[/SIZE][/B]by Staff Writers
Bangkok (AFP) Oct 27, 2011




Thousands of Bangkok residents flocked to bus, rail and air terminals Thursday while heavy traffic snaked out of the sprawling Thai capital in an exodus from a mass of approaching floodwater.
Water was seeping into central areas of the city of 12 million people, entering the grounds of the Grand Palace after the main Chao Phraya river overflowed at high tide, but most of downtown Bangkok was still dry.
A huge runoff from the north equivalent to almost half a million Olympic swimming pools is expected to reach the capital at the same time as seasonal high tides this weekend, testing the city's flood defences.
Many residents hunkered down in their homes, surrounded by sandbags or in some cases hastily erected concrete block walls, after the government ordered a five-day holiday for 21 provinces including Bangkok from Thursday. "It's a crisis, because if we try to resist this massive amount of floodwater, a force of nature, we won't win," said a teary-eyed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, facing a major test of her two-month-old leadership.
"But if we allow it to flow freely then people in many areas are prepared," added the former businesswoman, the sister of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Crowds of people abandoned their homes and headed to areas away from the path of the water, especially to the beach resorts of Hua Hin, Phuket and Pattaya.
"All of these destinations are packed with Thais who have moved from Bangkok," said Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy chief Sansern Ngaorungsi.
He said domestic flights from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport -- the country's main air hub, which is still operating as normal -- were also "very, very packed".
A steady flow of Thais and foreigners streamed into the capital's bus terminals as people sought to escape, while Bangkok's main train station was crowded and roads north and east out of the city were choked.
"I saw on the news that the water is getting closer. Maybe it's not going to come but I don't want to take a chance," 72-year-old Canadian Claude Kerrignan said as he waited to board a bus to Pattaya.
"Many people in my building have left already. Around where I live they have sandbags four feet (1.2 metres) high but if what they say is true it's going to be higher than that," he added.
Government offices, schools and some businesses were shut across Bangkok, where supermarkets have been running low on -- and sometimes rationing -- essential items such as bottled water and eggs as residents stock up.
"For a lot of people right now access to drinking water is one of the concerns," said Jerry Velasquez, regional coordinator for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, a UN agency.
"Bangkok is still in the early phase," he added. "This is a once in a 100 years flood. This is intense."
Much of the country has already been ravaged by the three-month flood crisis caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains, which has left more than 370 people dead and millions of homes and livelihoods damaged.
Districts north of the centre have already been inundated, shutting down the city's second biggest airport, Don Mueang, which is currently serving as the headquarters of the government's flood relief centre.
Yingluck admitted the situation in the capital was critical, with the government preparing extra shelters for Bangkok evacuees, who already exceed 7,500. Tens of thouands of troops have joined the flood relief efforts.
The FROC on Wednesday evening urged Bangkok residents in flood-prone areas to leave the city, saying food and deliveries were expected to become more difficult.
The crisis is taking its toll on the lucrative Thai tourism industry, with some countries, such as Britain, Singapore, Canada and the Netherlands advising against all but essential travel to Bangkok.
Thousands of inundated factories have also been shut down, putting more than half a million people temporarily out of work and disrupting global supply chains.

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jesus, its very bad over there. Its hard to imagine any city getting back on its feet after something like this.

up for anything

Bangkok Underwater

40+ photos of the floods so far. Some are amazingly beautiful, others show the triumph of the human spirit and some would bring tears to your eyes. I can't begin to imagine what another metre of water would do to some of these areas.

gebbel

Those photos are really striking. Going there just before Xmas myself and may change my plans after seeing them.

DominoDub

More Pics

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/10/the-thailand-floods/

bb1234567

dont see how thats any less bad than katrina in new orleans other than less casualties thankfully, itll take years for the city to get back to normal,new orleans is still clearing away debris and its 2011.

up for anything

New York Times, 30 September 2011

Floodwalls Keep Bangkok Dry and Suburbs Angry
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: October 30, 2011

BANGKOK — Shielded by hundreds of thousands of sandbags piled shoulder high along the city’s outskirts, most of Bangkok remained dry on Sunday, allaying fears for now that the massive metropolis would be swamped by monsoon floodwaters.

But along the floodwalls, which ring the city and are patrolled by soldiers and police officers around the clock, there was a mixture of relief and resentment.

“I am just hoping this floodwall will break,” said Seksan Sonsak, a 43-year-old factory worker. Mr. Seksan, like several million other Thais, has found himself on the wrong side of the wall.

The sandbags hastily erected to protect Bangkok have trapped a giant pocket of floodwater that extends for dozens of miles. By sparing the low-lying capital, which lies in the delta of the country’s main river system, officials sacrificed the provinces to the north.

“I understand that you want to save the majority,” said Mr. Seksan, whose house is inundated with brown water reeking of rotting fish. “But no one seems to think of us, the minority.”

The flooding, the worst in at least half a century, has affected 2 million people and left close to 400 dead, many by drowning or electrocution.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra thanked the residents of Pathum Thani Province, north of Bangkok, last week for their “sacrifice.”

“If we let the floodwall collapse or if the sluices fail, the water will burst into Bangkok, the capital of our nation,” she said. “Foreigners will lose confidence in us and wonder why we cannot save our own capital.”

On Sunday, Ms. Yingluck said she was confident that the situation was improving because the floodwalls were mostly holding up.

Experts and government officials say favorable weather and the passing of peak tides over the weekend as the water moves out to sea may mean the worst is over for Bangkok.

“The situation is easing,” said Somsak Khaosuwan, the director of Thailand’s National Disaster Warning Center. “If the floodwalls don’t break, inner Bangkok will definitely be safe.”

Train service between Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai resumed over the weekend after a month of interruption because of the floods. The main highway linking Bangkok to the north is now also passable.

But large swaths of provinces north of Bangkok are likely to remain inundated for several weeks, the government says. And bitterness is likely to persist long after the water has receded and the mud has dried.

Tensions were palpable in the Sai Mai district of Bangkok on Sunday, where the flood wall held back water more than three feet deep. One man whose house is submerged in water on the north side of the sandbags appeared traumatized as he walked along the dry side and yelled to residents, “Why don’t you take some of this water in your houses?” On Friday, the police arrested a man in Sai Mai for trying to dismantle the wall. “He’s still in jail,” said a neighbor, Thonglor Piromsuk, 46. “I wouldn’t call him crazy. I just think he was very stressed out.”

Some flood barriers have been destroyed under mysterious circumstances in recent days despite the deployment of what the military says is 50,000 troops to guard and maintain them. A nighttime breach last week near the domestic airport, Don Mueang, sent floodwater pouring onto the tarmac of the airport and inundating thousands of nearby homes and businesses. (The main international airport, Suvarnabhumi, is still operating normally.) The surge also forced the government on Saturday to move its crisis-management unit, Flood Relief Operations Center, which had been based at the airport.

Still, only 7 of Bangkok’s 50 districts were heavily flooded as of Sunday, mostly along the northern and western rim of the city.

Drinking water and other essentials such as eggs and rice remain in short supply, partly because panicked residents are hoarding. Many parts of the city were quiet over the weekend after residents took the government’s advice and evacuated to areas not threatened by flooding.

Thailand suffered acute monsoon flooding in 1983 and 1995 but this year’s floods have caused far greater damage, and with global repercussions. The country is a major supplier of electronics and the closing of factories producing computer hard disks has created a global shortage and sharp price increases. The shuttering of factories producing car parts has also disrupted the supply chains of companies such as Toyota and Honda.

The flooding appears to have been caused by intense rainfall in September, possibly exacerbated by miscalculations by managers at hydroelectric dams, who reportedly started filling their reservoirs too early in the monsoon season.

The rapid expansion of Bangkok in recent years has also hampered drainage of the annual floodwaters. The swamps and canals that once absorbed the monsoon run-off and allowed it to flow to the sea have been paved over or converted into industrial parks and housing complexes.

Those who live close to the floodwall say they realize that the sandbags are the only thing keeping them from total inundation.

Kusuma Thongin, a 56-year-old grocery store owner, says she looks toward the wall and the fetid water behind it each morning and issues an invocation.

“I pray to the water: please, don’t come,” she said.

A version of this article appeared in print on October 31, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune with the headline: Bangkok Resisting Floods (So Why Isn't Everyone Happy?).

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Video of soldiers and workmen trying to block the flood

The link above contains this article but also some video of soldiers and workmen trying to block the water with sand bags. It's scary watching how rapidly the water is flowing and impeding their efforts. They look absolutely shattered trying to move against the water and hold onto to each other to prevent them from being swept away.

Residents in Bangkok struggle to hold back floods

Thai troops are drafted in to help block flood waters surging through a Bangkok residential neighbourhood, even as the country's prime minister remained optimistic about keeping the floods out.

1:20PM GMT 30 Oct 2011
Dozens of soldiers and workmen fought the fast flowing floodwaters to lay sandbags.
The rupturing of the dyke wall in the Sam Sen district was exactly the type of setback that could turn the tide against the effort to protect the Thai capital.
Waters were receding from many inundated areas after killing 381 people, but the misery remained for several communities still under water.
Efforts to protect downtown Bangkok continued as runoff from the north pushed through on its way to the Gulf of Thailand.
Tides were expected to ease below critical levels after Monday, officals said.