Flood expert remains calm amidst the storms
Country ‘ better ready’ to deal with overflow hazard, so a replicate of 2011 doubtful.
Water professional Chawalit Chantararat predicts that the government’s ability to deal with the catastrophe will be less severe than the ones from 2011 because of the country’s smaller masses of waters coming from the North and its readiness to deal with the disaster.
Mr. Chawalit, the chairman of Team Group, recently told the Bangkok Post that he is positive that this year’s snowfall will be reasonable.
He said that although large rain has fallen in the northern regions, including Chiang Rai, Phayao, Phrae, Sukhothai and Phichit, it has not been sufficiently to overflow the whole place.
Additionally, he noted that there are 15.6 billion cubic meters of water flowing through the Muang city of Nakhon Sawan state this year. In comparison, the highest number measured on Sept 25, 2011, was 23.4 billion cubic feet.
He claimed that the four main rivers that flow from the northern region ( the Ping, Wang, Yom, and Nan Rivers ) and meet at Nakhon Sawan, the source of the Chao Phraya River, were responsible for the record-breaking volumes seen in 2011. This time, however, merely the Yom River brought extreme fluids from the North. ” The mass of water flowing through Nakhon Sawan on Aug 25 was approximately 40 % of 2011’s volume, which is manageable”, he said.
Chawalit ChantararatWhen asked if he was certain Bangkok would not experience a flood like in 2011, Mr. Chawalit, a water resources engineer, responded that given the city’s location and the fact that the water mass in the North does not cover a sizable area, there should n’t be any issues.
He even expressed confidence in the 10 kaem ting or “monkey face” water catchment areas along the Chao Phraya River, located in regions north of Bangkok, including Ayutthaya, Lop Buri and Ang Thong.
He claimed that these reservoirs may avoid the northern water from reaching Bangkok because they can hold 1.2 billion cubic meters of water.
” Bangkok usually fails to drain rainwater after heavy rain in some areas due to the city’s basin land, especially the 12 risk areas, such as Chaeng Watthana Road]from the Prapa Canal to the Prem Prachakon Canal], Ratchadaphisek Road]in front of Bangkok Bank ] and Sathu Pradit Road]the Sathu-Chan junction ]”, Mr Chawalit said.
He noted that when the water level is typically large, water can typically be released into the Chao Phraya River in October when it can produce floods in places other than the flood-prevention area, such as the Tha Wang and Tha Tian areas of Phra Nakhon state’s Tha Wang and Tha Tian communities, as well as the Rong Si group on Rama III Road in Yannawa district’s Rong Si community.
Global warming, in addition to being one of the major contributors to floods, is another important issue, according to Mr. Chawalit, who said one of the causes of Bangkok’s extreme rainfall in 2022, when the city experienced 800 millimeters of rainfall in a single month while the rainfall for the entire year was just 2,300 millimeters.
” World heat is getting more and more pervasive.” The Earth’s heat does not rise by over 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, but it has now gone up by 1.2C.
” If it reaches 1.5C, more tragedies, such as fire, storms, the melting of polar glaciers and floods of water into rivers, may appear, “he said.
In the next 26 years, water levels in the Gulf of Thailand will fall by 75cm, which is the amount the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts, he said”. By therefore, Bangkok may become submerged,” said the waters expert.
