The worst flood in 40 years hit Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand this weekend, and even yours truly and her cat are now staying with friends. The area from the Night Bazaar to the Airport was one of the hardest hit in Chiang Mai, being inundated with up to two meters of murky scummy river water in the deepest places. The flood lasted about two and half days, with the clean-up effort already begun yesterday. As a prime tourist destination, the government will be quick to clean up and restore order. With damages estimated at about 1 billion baht, the hardest hit will be small businesses, and workers in the night bazaar. Many of the workers in the night bazaar are fearing wage cuts, and loss of income from commissions. Its doubtful they'll be able to access official releif efforts without legal papers and id cards. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the the government issues emergency loans and funding to their employers to get their businesses up an running again. We'll just have to wait and see what will happen to the workers. I've also been told that an exiled Burmese human rights organization has also been hit hard by the flooding, their office being near the river and the Night Bazaar. Again, they won't be able to access official channels for relief, and must rely on the generosity of friends.

As residents and businesses are picking up the peices, they are also expressing anger and frustration at the situation. In a city which faces monsoons every year, there seemed to be little advanced warning. The following is a quote from an article in today's Bangkok Post:

Sopit Inthasaro, 44, said her dress-making business bore a heavy brunt. She did not have time to move her two cars and sewing machines to higher ground because the authorities issued no flood warning. "None of this would have happened if the authorities had warned us, and it's not the first time either."

Perhaps the lack of warning is explained by this article, from Sunday the 14th, the day the flooding actually began.

Meanwhile, a military development unit in charge of a scheme to tackle flooding in the south and west of Chiang Mai municipal area, said the municipal area was likely to be spared from floods.

Huay Kaew road and the area south of Chiang Mai airport were usually inundated by run-off from Doi Suthep in heavy downpours, said Air Vice Marshal Theerachart Palakul, head of the unit.

However, he said the areas would be kept free of floods this year now that the unit and the Irrigation Department, with a fund of 258 million baht, had built a 10km drainage network and installed six water pumps which channel water into the Ping and subsidiary rivers.

I imagine the good Air Vice Marshal soon wished he could take those words back. The area around the Chiang Mai airport was in fact the hardest hit.

The official government line is that the flood was caused by encroachments on the Ping river, and by illegal logging in the mountians. By illegal logging, PM Thaksin is referring to those hill-tribes engaged in their native swidden agriculture, not the large corporations which are quite likely overstepping their legal logging concessions. He has vowed to revive the Ping river, and stop the logging. Cheers to the Prime Minister. The government has not only sidestepped any blame for the disaster but they've created a great new reason to relocate the hill-tribes and confiscate their land.

In another article, which I can longer find on the internet, a local official claimed the flood in Chiang Mai was greatly exacerbated, if not caused, by a water gate on Doi Suthep being prematurely released out of panic into the Ping river; when it should have been released later into the tributaries. Yes, the gate and tributaries are all part of the fancy new drainage system mentioned by the Air Vice Marshal Theerachart Palakul above. Of course, this couldn't be blamed for the flooding in other areas of the north, but it's the flood here in the city which has caused the greatest damage.


On a side note, after reading this article at The Nation I'd like to know where the hell those military trucks were when I was trying to push my own motorbike through several feet of water, barefoot, with a terrified cat in my backpack. Thankfully some local boys came to my rescue, otherwise I might've been left in the middle of the street until the water receded.

Although I couldn't get any pictures of my own, there are plenty at the following sites:

http://www.thaichange.com/cm_flood.htm
http://goofball64.blogspot.com/