Unaffected Bangkokians should help clean up canals

Water expert Chawalit Chantararat, who is also executive director of the TEAM Group, is calling on residents living in non flooded parts of Bangkok to help dredge waterways and unclog drains in flood ravaged areas.

TEAM Group is a conglomeration of environmental consultants.

According to him, the level of Chao Phraya and Ta Chin rivers is going to drop significantly for four hours daily until Thursday, and that everyone should take advantage of this low tide period to direct runoffs to these rivers.

"In order to do this, we need to dredge canals and remove garbage from clogged drains first," he explained.

Chawalit also recommended that relevant officials open canal sluice gates fully during the low tide period.

"In Nonthaburi's Bang Kruay district, water should be directed from Bangkok's Natee Canal to the Bangkok Noi Canal," he said.

He said that if the clearing effort worked, the level of Mahasawas Canal should drop and the Borommaratchachonnanee Road should be open to traffic next week. 

He added that though the flooded areas will not be dried out immediately, they should provide visible results.

Chawalit said people should take inspiration from the residents of Samut Sakhon's Ban Phaeo district, who got together to drain flood waters from their area.

Meanwhile, a channel is being dug up along the Bang Nam Jued Canal to help ease flooding in the border shared by Bangkok and Samut Sakhon. 

The Bang Nam Jued Canal links the Phasi Charoen Canal and Sanam Chai Canal, which direct water into water retention areas.

Located near Rama II Road, the Bang Nam Jued Canal only has the capacity to move 4 cubic meters of water per second. 

The new channel, which will be about 100 meters long, will be equipped with several pumps and should be able to push 15 cubic metes of water per second.

Nonthaburi locals demand City Hall opens sluice gates

Nonthaburi residents want City Hall to open the Khlong Maha Sawat sluice gates to allow floodwater to flow out of their areas although it may raise flood levels in Bangkok's Bang Phlat district.

About 1,000 people organised through Facebook gathered at the Nonthaburi provincial hall yesterday to submit their demand through Nonthaburi governor Wichien Puthiwinyu.

They met for talks to find solutions to the month-long flooding in Bang Bua Thong, Bang Kruai, Bang Yai and Pak Kret districts. The Khlong Maha Sawat sluice gates are located between tambon Plai Bang municipality in Bang Kruai and Bangkok.

The gates are overseen by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and remain closed as part of flood prevention measures for the capital.

The residents believe opening of the gates would ease flooding in Nonthaburi as floodwater could make its way out to Khlong Maha Sawat and canals in Bangkok.

In their view, this is another way to drain the water out of the province.

Although there are fears opening the gates may affect Bang Phlat district in Bangkok where water began to recede last week, Mr Wichien promised he would send a request to the Bangkok governor via the Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc).

He told the residents they would get an answer by 1pm tomorrow.

Phue Thai MP for Nonthaburi Chalong Riewraeng, who was present during the talks, said if Bangkok does nothing, "we have to do it our own way".

Mr Wichien and Mr Chalong also promised to obtain 1,000 water pumps to speed up water drainage in Nonthaburi. They aim to reduce the water level by more than 20cm.

If the drainage goes as planned, residents, especially those in Bang Bua Thong, could return home by Dec 1.

However, those in Sai Noi district may need to wait longer because the area has been severely hit by floods.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Theera Wongsamut, who inspected the western side of the Chao Phraya River in Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani yesterday, assured flood victims their situation would improve as officials continue to repair damaged levees and use more pumps to drain water.

The Royal Irrigation Department has given 50 water pumps to the two provinces to ease their flooding.

It's a flooded market but Thais keep trading

Even small boats suddenly become water taxis in the submerged streets of Bangkok.

Flooded out but still want to make a fashion statement? Try these lime green rubber boots. Feeling stir crazy with the fetid waters surrounding your home? How about special snorkels to keep your car running in high water or a jet ski to navigate submerged streets?

In Bangkok, the ongoing flood disaster has provided plenty of opportunity for business ingenuity to flourish.

Months of floods in Thailand have paralyses car factories and disrupted other big businesses and are estimated to have caused billions of dollars of damage to industry.

But the slow-moving flood-waters have been a boon for quick-witted small traders looking to cater to some of the startling demands of water-weary Thais.

At one of the flood markets that have sprung up in Bangkok, dozens of makeshift shops line the sides of a road just a few hundred meters from encroaching flood-waters ready to arm those coping with a disaster that has killed 500 since July.

Operating out of the back of trucks and on the pavements, the traders sell plastic boats, jet skis, waders, water pumps, nonperishable food, propellers and plastic tarp marketed as "refrigerator wraps".

In other parts of the city, builders are erecting cinder block walls trying to protect shops and houses.

There's even a new car-towing service that uses Styrofoam to float stranded vehicles to safety.

The capital's mechanics have been busy with special modifications that allow cars, trucks and motorcycles to navigate swamped streets.

Thong Dechapak said his family's car repair shop had been refitting up to eight vehicles a day with an engine snorkel and exhaust pipe modification that together cost 10,000 baht ($422) - a month's salary for many in Thailand.

The device for the engine sticks up above the car's roof like a diving snorkel, sucking in air so fuel for the engine continues to combust while driving through flood water.

"Right now there's a lot of demand. There are no spare parts left. We started getting client orders about two months ago," when provinces north of Bangkok began to get flooded, said Dechapak, 24.

"They keep coming. There are more and more every day," he said.

They've also fitted exhaust snorkels to motorcycles for friends. The price: a case of beer.

Videos of modified Thai motorcycles chugging through dirty water are already causing a splash on YouTube. In one, the water is high enough to submerge the seat.

Many of the entrepreneurs have been flooded out of their shops or homes, but necessity and demand means they're not giving up their livelihoods.

Wiweena Boonsanong, 27, hawks colorful rubber boots in different patterns from plain black to lime green and purple army-print. Out of the 25 rubber boot shops dotted along a section of Ramintra Rd in Bangkok's northern suburbs, she's the only one selling boots with different patterns.

Boonsanong used to sell women's shoes at a market near the now swollen Chao Phraya River that winds through the city of nine million. That shop was flooded and with her house invaded by water, she realized that she didn't like wearing just the garden-variety black and brown ones.

"Women will always like to be in fashion even if it's flooded. We want to look cute," said Boonsanong, who had sold six pairs at 350 baht a pop within an hour of setting up shop.

Nearby, Wichra Lertrasamee's rather more high-end business - selling a motor adapted to function as both a water pump and a boat propeller - is bustling.

It sells for 9500 baht and Lertrasamee is moving 15 to 16 a day. Lertrasamee said he had one customer who used the motor to propel a bamboo raft.

Using another attachment turns the motor into a pump that can help clear water from a flooded house.

660 pumps installed along Chao Phraya to drain out run-offs

The Royal Irrigation Department has been using as many as 660 pumps, installed along both banks of the Chao Phraya River, to direct run-offs towards the sea.

These pumps can handle 123 million cubic meters of water every day.

"On the western side, there are 336 pumps that have the capacity to handle 80 million cubic meters," the department's director-general Chalit Damrongsak said yesterday.

In Bangkok's eastern zone, there are 324 pumps that have a total capacity to handle 43 million cubic meters of water each day.

Chalit said water drainage depended on many factors, including sea levels.

He added that pumps would also be used to drain floods out of Nakhon Sawan and Ayutthaya.