Deluge by design: Thai villages flooded to protect capital
Officials say the diversion strategy has kept Bangkok safe while forcing some Ayutthaya residents to raise homes or live with repeated flooding.
- Thai authorities are deliberately flooding rural riverside communities in Ayutthaya, including Bang Ban district, to protect Bangkok and industrial zones from monsoon waters this month.
- Infrastructure projects including embankments and the Chao Phraya Dam divert water away from the capital, though Thai irrigation department spokesman Thanet Somboon acknowledged these measures contribute to more severe downstream flooding.
- Office worker Kamonchanok Sathaphonamonwut has been forced to commute by boat and hoist household belongings above the waterline, while raising a home costs between 100,000 baht and 1 million baht.
- Environmental conservationist Sasin Chalermlarp called government efforts 'cruel' to those bearing the brunt of flooding, while Thanet acknowledged officials may need to review infrastructure to 'ensure floodwater can be kept within the intended limits.'
- The government is building a $780 million flood diversion canal designed to carry 1,200 cubic m of water per second around the Chao Phraya bottleneck, with completion expected by 2030.
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VIDEO - The country faces floods every year during monsoons, and climate change related to human activities increases the intensity and frequency of heavy rains and floods, according to scientists.
Deluge by design: Thai villages flooded to protect capital
Inside the home of Kamonchanok Sathaphonamonwut, raised more than three metres (10 feet) above the ground in Ayutthaya province, her family of three sleeps on makeshift platforms and cannot use the waterlogged toilet. Her village has been flooded six years in a row, pushing some to move away, while others have raised their houses higher. "Our area simply cannot cope with this much water anymore," the 34-year-old told AFP, wading through her soak…
Since the 2011 floods, the country has diverted water to rural areas in order to protect its capital. North of Ayutthaya, people are seeing the... Read more To keep Bangkok dry, Thailand has drowned from northern villages for six years has appeared first on Le Singulier.
At Kamonchanok Sathaphonamonwut, more than three metres from the ground, the family has to sleep on platforms and can no longer use the toilets. Its village is flooded for the sixth year in a row. Some residents ended up...
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