We have been operating normally every day. There is currently no flooding in central Bangkok nor has ther been any flooding in central Bangkok. The floods last month were largely confined to the far outkirts of Bangkok, and the flood waters were drained to the east and west of the city outskirts down to the sea. WE ARE OPERATING EVERY DAY.
The water level in the river has continued to decline from a peak of 4,800 cu m/sec on October 13/14 when the main run-off from the north passed Bangkok to a seasonal normal 2,000 cu m/sec.
The South-Westerly Monsoon (rainy season) finished on October 23rd and changed to the North-Easterly Monsoon (cooler, dry season).
In 43 years of operation we have never yet had to cancel a cruise due to flooding
The policy of the irrigation department in Thailand is to prevent flooding in Bangkok and in general it works quite well.
Water is retained in dams upriver and released at the maximum rate possible without causing flooding in Bangkok.
When the dams are over-flowing water is then diverted to less populated regions in the province - in order to protect much more densely populated Bangkok.
LATEST NEWS
All services including Expressboat Service & Cargo-barge boat service have now resumed on the river. These were temporarily suspended to prevent undue turbulance in the river when the river was at its peak
In summary, we have seen very little unusual over the past month in Bangkok & life has proceeded normally. A lot of people, listening to the direst predictions on TV (without a shred of scientific evidence), were very alarmed and left the city. But as we have reported each day through the measurements of the Royal Irrigation Department & the canal level metering system, all measurements throughout the period showed that flooding in the city was very unlikely, apart from some possible drain backwash for brief periods when the sea tides were at their highest. This proved entirely to be the case. So we welcome the return to normal working in the city and the lifting of the mood of panic.
There is some confusion overseas on the status of Bangkok airports. The main international & domestic Airport is operating normally and was unaffected by flooding. The old airport which handles some budget airlines domestic flights & cargo flights is north of the city & is closed due to flooding since one month ago. The few flights normally based on the old airport have been moved to the main airport while the old airport is cleaned out.
BUT WE HAVE SEEN PICTURES OF THE GRAND PALACE & OTHER PLACES FLOODED
During the high tides October 29 & 30, in some areas beside the river where the drains are below the level of the high tide, there was backflow in the drains which resulted in brief episodes of very light flooding 10-15cms for no more than 30 minutes until the tide went down again. This has been the method many news organizations have used to try to obtain sensational pictures of "floods in Bangkok"
ROYAL IRRIGATION DEPARTMENT DAILY REPORT
For anybody who wants the factual information, the Irrigation Department publishes a comprehensive report each day. It can be found at Click Here
It is in Thai - but the two key Charts are the first chart - which shows the seasonal shift to the northeast monsoon & the last chart that shows the flow rates for hundreds of kilometers on the Chao Phraya river. Anything under 5,000 cu m/sec on the river means no flooding & it can be seen that the rates are a lot below this level
UPDATE: Because the floods have finished - the daily report has now returned to its normal format - with tables in Thai - and the charts of flow rates in central Thailand have now been dropped as unnecessary
BANGKOK STREET WEBCAMS & REALTIME CANAL LEVELS
The following is a link to 198 Traffic webcams in Bangkok & the realtime monitoring meters of most of the canals in Bangkok
Out of the 198 street webcams distributed throughout the entire Bangkok Metropolitan Area one will have difficulty finding more than a couple that shows any evidence of flooding - mainly in the far northern outskirts of the city
The CANAL Meter monitor shows most of the canals at different sections (each canal has several monitors). The numbers at the top indicate how far in metres the water is below the top of the left & right walls. Blue indicates water level, brown & orange left & right wall level. Click Here
