Flooding Update

The government has largely given up the fight to save outer (Northern and Eastern) Bangkok from flooding. This is because the amount of water backing up outside the cities has reached an unmanageable level. The government has opened sluice gates into the cities canals to try and drain the water to the sea. This will cause flooding in many districts. The sandbag dykes that have been built are in danger of collapsing under the weight of the water. It is preferable to allow the water in in a controlled fashion, rather than have the barriers collapse, leading to a mini-tsunami as the flood waters rush in. Tens of thousands of people have had to leave their homes. Already the roads around the old city airport are flooded (Don Muang International Airport). The Rangsit campus of Thammasat University is also under water. Reportedly a prison with 2000 inmates is being evacuated as it is threatened by flood waters. Currently central Bangkok is still dry, but no one is saying that it will stay dry for long.

One affect of the flooding is that goods are disappearing from store shelves. Partially this is due to hoarding, but primarily it is because of supply chain disruptions because most of the main North South highways are underwater. I was shopping in in Tesco Lotus today and bare shelves were quite noticeable. Laundry detergent was almost entirely gone, the popular soft drinks shelves were empty, canned food was in short supply, and there was a shortage of bread. I am not sure if that is because of a shortage of bread, or a shortage of flour. A blogger in Bangkok has stated that all of the 7-11's look like they are going out of business because their shelves are totally bare. It isn't that bad here, but it may be in a few weeks.

I tried to include a Google map showing the extent of the flooding but it seems that Google's servers are being overwhelmed by the number of people trying to access the maps.