Flood Report : Central Nongkhai

Within seconds of hearing the warning of dangerously high water levels for the river Mekong, and the possibility of flooding within Nongkhai, Brendan (I'm from 'Ull, pictured right,) announced that he had been offered a job digging a tunnel in India.

Of course nobody believed him, we all know that he is upstairs hooked up to an intravenous supply of Chang draft, occasionally spying on customers below, through holes in the floor, leaving the rest of us to tough it out through the floods. No doubt he will reappear once the river level drops, with a tale of things not working out in India.

I included this picture left below, when writing about temporary local flooding. It is the road outside my house during a sudden downpour of rain. An hour after the rain stopped, the floodwater had drained away. Below right is the scene outside my house for the last three days.

The difference in colour of the water is immediately apparent, the present water level is also significantly higher, which becomes more obvious when viewed from road level. As often happens in these situations, an entrepreneurial spirit manifests itself, so the lorry in the picture had brought sandbags to the people with the colourful yellow wall, and had built a sandbag wall in front of their purple house for them. My not unattractive neighbour had also had a sandbag wall built across her drive, which I thought a good idea, so I arranged that the people who built her wall, would build a similar one for me. The price quoted was 400 baht, (i.e. 20 sandbags at 20 baht each) about £8 in total. Very reasonable for the piece of mind that it afforded.

Below my wall being built, and the finished result. Naturally since the sandbag wall was built, the floodwater has receded but by perhaps only one inch. There remains a very real risk if it rains, because the rainwater has nowhere to go. When it rained two nights ago, it added six inches to the depth of the flood. If I want to go anywhere I have to wade through knee deep water to the end of the road, before mounting my bicycle, - I tried cycling through the water, but it is surprisingly difficult. Realistically however, I am one of the lucky ones, as my house was built quite a bit higher than some of my neighbours houses. and on my slow wade to the end of the road, I have noticed that some of them have the water lapping at their front doors.

Adjacent to the river, appearances are more dramatic. Through the arch is the Zodiac floating restaurant. One has to walk up a ramp to get on board, if one has had the courage to park the car in the flooded car park. The boat in the picture is moored at the river bank, the Mekhong is simply higher than the bank at this point and the car park has been annexed by the river.

In the past I have commented on the movement of the river, and have used the number of steps to the restaurant as a yardstick. At the lowest that I have seen, I counted 57 steps down to the restaurant, while at its previous highest (in my time in Nongkhai) there were 9 steps down in October 2006. Now you go UP to the restaurant!!

Left 57 steps down, but perhaps more to the point, 57 steps back up to the car park after your meal!

Right a much more civilised 9 steps down (or up). At the time we all thought this was very high.

Below left the river wall is in the centre of the picture. To the left of it is the Mekhong, while to the right of it is the river front road (hence the lampposts). Can you spot the difference? I don't think so. Despite (or perhaps because of) all the water, there is an atmosphere of Song Kran (the Thai water festival). Many children, and some adults (including the monk in his underwear) enjoyed playing in the water, while in the background a group appeared to be playing an improvised cross between water polo and football.

Of course business has to go on, or at least try. Below a shop/bar on the river road is open for customers with the river only six inches below the floor level. Although the road is impassable to wheeled traffic, it can still be considered a highway, as those with boats are able to use it for getting out and about. Today (17th) the water has gone down a few inches, it is still in my drive, but has definitely retreated. I am hoping that there will be no more rain for a week or so, but this may be unlikely as we are in the middle of the rainy season!

Post Script: About 2 a.m. this morning (19^th) it rained for about one hour. Before it started my road was clear of water, and actually dry. This morning the floodwater is back to the previous level (i.e. knee deep), and rain is forecast for tonight!! I will be ready with my sandbag wall! Let them do their worst.. we will fight them on the beaches …. (in best Churchillian fashion)!