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Published: October 26th 2011
When we left the condo at 2pm, the road was dry. 4 hours later it was covered in water.
Naitt and I went to her condo to pick up a jacket she'll need for a trip to Korea next week, and then headed to Siriraj Hospital where she works.
Wading to hospital
It's normally a 20 minute walk to the hospital, but it takes a heck of a lot longer to wade. 200m from her condo it started getting wet. That road was ankle deep to begin with on our side and went down to knee deep on the other. Already boats were being used as alternative transport and nothing smaller than a pickup could pass on the highest spots. Buses were still passing and picking up bedraggled passengers.
Another 300m down the road and it got significantly deeper -- knee deep on the footpath and thigh deep on the road.
Here, the favored form of transport was military unimog. These were being supplied by the Submarine Transport division of the Royal Thai Navy. Now, why Thailand has submarines is beyond me -- most of the Gulf of Thailand is too shallow for them to even
submerge. And why they have a submarine transport division is even further beyond me. But in this situation with politicians clueless and jockeying for position, these guys really did shine.
It's ironic that the most useless and pointless part of the Thai Defense Force has become one of the most useful and necessary. Not only did they run their trucks tirelessly through the flood to get people to and from work, but others were pushing boats up and down the flooded road to get people from A to B.
A was a point about 500m from Naitt's condo. B was the beginning of a flyover for the highway which transported you with dry feet all the way to Siriraj Hospital.
We had the option of hiring a boat or thumbing a lift with the submariners, but decided to wade it instead. The water was pleasant temperature and I could do with the exercise.
It was amazing to see the preparations that where going on.
Flood walls
A bunch of shops had hired enterprising brick layers and builders to erect flood walls outside their premises. While construction has stopped elsewhere in the country, I've never
seen so many cinder block walls going up so fast. It was amazing. It's also stupid of course. No wall is 100% waterproof and unless they have blocked the drains water is going to come in that way as well. It's so much easier to carry everything up one floor and simply accept that the ground floor the new swimming pool.
Shops building 50cm concrete walls was sort of amusing, especially seeing the water level in some shops was the same inside as it was outside. But the building going on at Siriraj Hospital was something else entirely.
They're building the flood defenses around the entire hospital to a level of 2.8m. That's a heck of a lot of walls, but they do have an army of builders. Or, more specifically, they have the Royal Thai Army building the walls.
The fact that the king is staying there of course helps galvanize the population into supporting the effort. But a single helicopter could move him with no trouble at all. It's the other 1,600 inpatients that would be the problem as it's the nation's largest hospital.
And while they are building large walls, I didn't see
any heavy duty pumps being moved in. That should be #1 priority.
I fear that the hospital basement is going to get very, very wet.
Temporary reprieve
Outside the hospital nearer the river, flood waters had subsided since yesterday when they were a foot deep. But that's only because they went into the Bangkok city drainage system and raised the level of Bangkok's groundwater. So good news, but not particularly good.
We visited the open pharmacy (as opposed to the one that had already closed) to stock up on antibiotics, and headed back.
Floodwaters rising
The water was a slightly deeper when we walked down the expressway flyover past rows of parked cars. A 45 minute wade took us to McDonalds, where we had a healthfood meal of Big Mac, fries, and water. We counted ourselves very lucky that they allowed us to substitute the normal coke for water. You can still buy coke at some stores, but you won't find water.
Then heading back to Naitt's condo, the water was several inches deeper than when we'd left. It's just a matter of time before it's impassable.
There was no chance of
Making a flood wall
Hundreds of shops are now behind newly cemented cinderblock flood walls. Enterprising builders are making out like banditsa taxi, so we jumped on a bus to the Southern Bus Terminal where getting a taxi wouldn't be a problem. And glad we did. The water on the road was getting deeper, and at intersections near canals, the water was flowing at a brisk walking pace. This place is getting flooded for sure.
Heading out to forage for more water. Only have a week's supply for the six of us (we have four refugees as guests) and really need enough for a month.
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Marg Young
non-member comment
Thanks for your blogs, Pete!
What a calamity! There's little one can say of course ... your final comment about the drinking water shortage highlights the challenge. Is the Army bringing supplies of that into distribution points? My thoughts are very much with you - just as they were on September 18 when I didn't get around to sending a birthday wish for you!! Love, Marg