*Quick Flood Blog no.2*
4 November 2011: Children enjoy the pool created by the flooded riverside walkway in Santichaiprakarn park on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.
Anxiety has been running high over the last few weeks as the Bangkok CBD braces for the arrival of flood water, marking an unthinkable state of affairs only a couple of weeks ago.
In a boon to myself and those residents who have stayed in Bangkok, the traffic congestion in the city is now marginal as neighbouring towns to the north such as Kanchanaburi and Pattaya to the south-east of Bangkok, have become bolt holes for the majority of the populace.
Since I last wrote, my street has dried out completely and for now, it seems like everything is back to normal (I must stress this report covers my immediate locality – my hopes for relief from the flood go out to the many people who have lived with this crisis for months now).
Another high tide and we will probably see scenes similar to the previous blog.
Water from the Chao Phraya River leaks into a small low-lying channel near the park only a few metres wide (flooding a small business in the process) but has the power to completely swamp the road within an hour.
More images from recent weeks…
27 October 2011 (below): Seating area on the riverside walk, Chao Phraya River.
27 October 2011 (below): Cement walls erected overnight become canvasses for local artists to brighten up the gloom of imminent floods. Rising water has enabled some rather large crocodiles to escape their enclosures in the farms further north and inspired the wall art no doubt, together with turtles, sharks and octopus. Sponge Bob also makes an appearance.
15 October 2011 (below): Water from the Chao Phraya River reached the second step of the riverside walkway. The steps are now completely submersed as you see in the first picture.
*Some statistics from the Government FROC (Flood Relief Operations Command): Flooding has displaced over 700,000 households in 25 provinces which accounts for more than two million people (including FROC itself ironically enough, as their base at the domestic airport of Don Mueang was also washed out a couple of weeks ago). 437 have died to date. It’s looking like early next year before Bangkok flood waters will have subsided and the clean up can begin. Its five months since the first provinces in the far north were hit by the flood.
*Source: Bangkok Post, November 4 2011
© Warren Field 2011
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