Sinking Bangkok: How historic floods exposed cracks in city’s disaster defenses

All 50 districts were declared disaster zones late last month, as the worst floods in living memory exposed the capital’s vulnerability to seasonal weather patterns. Experts say that without major upgrades to flood defences, the city will fall deeper into an annual pattern of chaos and paralysis as climate change takes hold. 

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Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt blamed the historic flooding on bottlenecks in the city’s drainage network, which was overwhelmed by more than 300 millimetres of rainfall over three days (from 4pm on September 24 to 6.30am on September 26).

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The lack of timely information about the flooding sparked widespread anger, with experts accusing city hall of failing to issue timely public alerts.

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Deputy Interior Minister Jeseth Thaiseth also questioned why the BMA failed to utilise the existing emergency cell broadcast system during the peak of the crisis. “In fact, a relevant authority contacted the BMA on September 26 to ask if it wanted to issue a warning,” he said. However, residents only began receiving emergency cell broadcasts late on Saturday – well after heavy flooding was already underway.

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Bhichit stated that no significant flood solutions have been created for Bangkok since systems were established under the initiative of HM the late King Rama IX.