Typhoon hits BKK on sunday

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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'

 

 

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

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Typhoon Xangsane has reduced to tropical storm on its way out of the Philippines to the South China Sea on late Thursday after hitting Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the national weather bureau said.

 

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It was upgraded to a 4 before reaching Vietnam. Some reports the raining already starting over Isaan.

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mostly up north/east

 

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3-4 hours from now the raining will start in the Chonburi area.

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big deal...it is only water...get some beer, get a girl and deal with it

 

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Yes, upena, and buy some candles and have a romantic night if electricity will be out for some hours or over night.

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I hope nobody we know was in Ko Chang this week...looks like a big mess with 1.5m of water at the beach road:

From Bangkok Post

Flash flood hits Koh Chang resort island

Hundreds of tourists and residents forced to flee current, bad weather could continue

 

Post reporters

 

Mountain torrents triggered a severe flash flood in six villages on the resort island of Koh Chang yesterday.

 

 

Hundreds of tourists and residents were forced to flee from the strong current, which destroyed a bridge and flooded homes and resorts with mud and pieces of timber.

 

 

The bad weather could continue, as the Meteorology Department has forecast that Typhoon Xangsane is expected to enter Vietnam and Thailand today.

 

 

The storm would trigger another round of heavy rainfall, especially in northeastern provinces.

 

 

Sleeping tourists were woken up by the flood in the tourist area of Ban Hat Sai Khao village.

 

 

It inundated all hotels, shops, and homes along a three-kilometre road, which was put under 1.5 metres of water.

 

Officials had to use ropes to take tourists and hotel staff out of their hotels to safer areas as the strong current turned the tourist street into a ''canal'' of mud and timber.

 

 

In Bang Klong Plu, a bridge was so severely damaged that cars could not use it.

 

 

Only motorcycles were allowed to transport tourists and villagers to the other side, while some had to walk across. The bridge was temporarily repaired and could be used in the late afternoon, said Koh Chang sub-district chief Sakprasert Jaroenprasit.

 

 

The four other villages hit by the flood were Ban Klong Son, Ban Chaiyachet, Ban Klong Phrao and Ban Kai Bae. The flood receded later.

 

 

Tour operators said they were still optimistic about the prospects for tourism, which should not be much affected by the flood.

 

 

Meanwhile, nearly 50,000 people in nine provinces have fallen ill after dhencountering floods for one month.

 

 

Health officials have seen a sharp dhincrease in the number of patients suffering from flood-related illnesses.

 

 

Their numbers in 51 districts have increased on average by 1,300 people a day, said permanent secretary for public health Prat Boonyavongvirot.

 

 

The conditions include rash, pink eye disease, and athlete's foot, or fungal infections of the skin on the foot.

 

 

Dr Prat said health officials had already prepared several thousand sets of medicines for eye and foot infections, which would be given to mobile units of doctors in flooded areas.

 

 

The areas, where thousands of patients have been treated so far, are in Sukhothai, Phichit, Nakhon Sawan, Phitsanulok, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Sing Buri, Tak and Nonthaburi.

 

 

In Ang Thong's Muang district, villager Somkuan Kotsawat, 45, died on Friday as she tried to wade through a strong current to a store, an official said.

 

 

In Pa Mok district, some parts of sandbags placed along the Chao Phraya river were destroyed by the rapid increase in the water level.

 

 

The river flowed over into nearby villages and left residents in waist-deep water, officials said.

 

 

The flooding in Ayutthaya has concerned local officials, who rushed to place lines of sandbags to fortify ancient temples and forts against the increasing water level.

 

 

The water threatened to inundate the 700-year-old Pom Phet fort, which is dhlocated on a river bank where two rivers - the Pasak and the Chao Phraya - converge.

 

 

However, director of Fine Arts Office 3 Anek Sehamart said the officials managed to defend the fort against the flood in time with lines of sandbags.

 

 

Officials also made temporary 'earth walls' in the low parts of Uthong road to keep away extending floods.

 

 

The road surrounds many ancient temples and has served as a flood wall in the province's Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district.

 

 

In the eastern province of Prachin Buri, governor Orot Wongsit ordered the Kabin Buri industrial estate closed down for two days after mountain torrents from Khao Yai and Thaplan national parks ran down to flood the industrial community and areas in Kabin Buri and Na Di districts.