Am I in Denial About Bangkok Flooding?

The overflowing Chao Phyra River brings flood waters to Bangkok's Grand Palace, Thailand's main tourist site.

Bangkok, Thailand. October 29, 2011. Arising this morning to a bright, cloudless sky and streets totally dry, I could imagine that things in Bangkok were totally normal, but this euphoria did not last long. As I entered the elevator to pick up my two daily papers waiting for me in the lobby, a cleaning woman I ran into automatically gave me a flood report about the areas of Bangkok where I live as well as surrounding areas. The verdict: no floods. But her manner of greeting me was emblematic these days as everyone starts off every conversation with the questions “Are you being flooded? Where do you live?”

What started out being called Thailand’s worst flooding in 50 years, then Thailand’s worst flooding ever, and is now referred to as Thailand’s worst natural disaster in history, has gripped the capital city in fear and panic, which is felt everywhere, even though only seven districts in the northern outskirts (out of Bangkok’s 50 districts), have any water in them. The signs of abnormality are everywhere.

Even though I live in the core central area of Bangkok, which, by all accounts, is safe from flooding, my neighborhood has all the signs of a threatened city. My condo has built walls of sandbags, and a few of my neighbors, both high-rise residential buildings and single-family homes, have likewise put some sandbags and plastic sheeting in front in amounts that are guaranteed to be no protection in the event of a flood. On the main road, some of the shops have sand bags in front, while a very few have constructed barrier walls. Many stores are operating normally, but quite a few have curtailed hours, and fewer still have shut for the duration.

No drinking water has been available in any store for a week or more, many shelves are empty, and there have been spot shortages of some common products. For instance, regular sandwich bread as been absent for days now, but more expensive bakery bread is readily available at twice the price. Then, quite suddenly, a large shelf of common sandwich bread was delivered to one of my local 7-Eleven stores late yesterday. While I’ve had to make some adjustments in the food that I buy, there is nothing even remotely like a shortage of food in the inner city. Restaurants are open and no restaurant I’ve been to has been unable to deliver its regular menu. However, Bamrungrad Hospital, where I have all of my doctor appointments, has canceled out-patient appointments until Wednesday, but remains operational for emergencies.

Still, Bangkokians have fled the city in droves, encouraged, no doubt, by the government’s declaration of a five-day national holiday October 27-31. About 50% of the people I usually socialize with have left, some to foreign countries, others back to their villages, several to the beach cities of Pattaya and Hua Hin, and one friend has delayed her return to Bangkok from abroad. For those remaining in Bangkok, traffic is light, the Skytrain and subway have empty seats, a popular mall I visited was almost devoid of visitors, except for its grocery store, and a fairly large restaurant I patronize several times a year, had only two tables occupied for dinner the other night. According to news reports, Bangkokians have opted to stay at home.

As for activities, everything I had planned for the last several days and for this weekend, have been canceled, such as, concerts, events at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, the local Chopin piano competition, and a crafts fair. Left with not much to do, I’m staying home, going out to eat, and visiting the Internet café several hours per day. My school was closed on Friday because my teacher was busy moving her electrical appliances to the second floor of her house located in an area which might be flooded; her movables reached the second floor several days ago. Fortunately, I have several projects that I’m working on at home, which are keeping me busy and far from being bored, and high on this list, is reviewing the first three chapters of the 6^th grade text book, which has me puzzled and challenged.

So, while I’m not bored, I am glum. While I’m not frightened, I am concerned that this will drag on for so much additional time that I’ll opt to leave Bangkok for Singapore or some other place. My drinking water supply will be exhausted in a few days and I’d like to know that purified drinking water will then be available, but I’m prepared to boil tap water to meet my modest needs.

Even though I’m comfortable and not afraid, I have great sympathy for the many Thais that have suffered from these floods, and by reporting on my enviable position, I do not want this to be taken as a lack of sensitivity to the suffering experienced by so many in this country, including several families I know in the provinces bordering Bangkok, who are under water, but coping with it with grace and good humor.

According to an editorial in today’s Bangkok Post, I am in denial: “It is strange but true that despite repeated warnings, there are still residents of Bangkok’s inner city who remain in denial about the watery woes threatening to engulf them.” I guess that that’s me. However wrong I may turn out to be, my very low internal threat level is based upon my appraisal of what water engineers and experts have said at the FCCT and as reported in the newspapers, about the defenses that Bangkok has for my area of the city. I pay no attention to government spokesmen, who have proved repeatedly wrong and politically influenced. Instead, I’ve listen to academics and practicing engineers, and have followed their maps and charts to the conclusion that my exposure to massive flooding is somewhere between non-existent and remote. Only time will tell if my judgment has been correct.

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