Posted on October 13, 2011 by Fiona Hilliard

Underwater: Thailand

Flood watch: For now, those holidaying in the Thai capital are safe, but that isn’t stopping local authorities from feverishly trying to stop Bangkok from being flooded by the tides hitting the north of the country.

Already, hundreds of workers have been drafted in to construct barrier walls on the edge of the city which is currently at risk of flooding due to its low position.

Around 269 people have lost their lives in heavy monsoon rains, mudslides and floods to the north, north east and in the central plains of Thailand since late July, with 2.3 million people affected.  Most shockingly perhaps, an area of farmland around 13 times the size of Hong Kong is underwater.

At the moment, the major tourist areas including Bangkok, Sukhimvit Road, Khao San Road and Silom are unaffected, but many riverside piers, restaurants and houses on low-lying sections of the Chao Phraya are covered in water.

For most public transportation in Bangkok, including the Chao Phraya River ferries, BTS Skytrain and MRT are running as per usual. Anyone who has opted to tour with car hire in Bangkok has not been affected so far either.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is emphatic that major tourist destinations including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang Sukhothai, Kanchanaburi, Ratchburi, Pattaya, Ko Chang, Rayong, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Ko Samui are all enjoying normal weather conditions.

TAT says: ‘All airports around Thailand, including Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok have not been affected by the floods and are operating as per usual.’

To protect Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, the main international airport in Thailand, a three-metre (9.8 ft) high earth wall has been reinforced.

High tides are expected from October 13^th to October 17^th and October 26^th to October 31^st. 

Tourism chiefs are hopeful that the floods will not run into the ‘high season’, with popular attractions including the Chaiwatthanaram in the Ayutthaya province (around 60 miles north of Bangkok) already being  affected.

Train services into and out of Ayutthaya and beyond  remain closed for the moment.

Despite the disruption to road and rail travel in the north, Tourism Minister Chumpal Silpa-archa was reticent about the issue as he travelled to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, all he remarked was:

‘Around 39,000 foreign travellers are still visiting Thailand each day.  They’re choosing to visit other areas and travel by air.’