AYUTTHAYA: Stilt houses in villages north of Bangkok are no longer high enough to stay dry as Thai authorities deliberately flood riverside communities to spare the capital.
Inside the home of Kamonchanok Sathaphonamonwut, raised more than three metres above the ground in Ayutthaya province, her family of three sleeps on makeshift platforms and cannot use the waterlogged toilet.
Her village has been flooded six years in a row, pushing some to move away, while others have raised their houses higher.
"Our area simply cannot cope with this much water anymore," the 34-year-old said, wading through her soaked home.
But while authorities prioritise protecting Bangkok and other business hubs from floods, "when it comes to our residential communities, they neglect us", she said.
Thailand experiences flooding every year during the monsoon season, and scientists say human-made climate change has made heavy rain and floods more frequent and severe.
After devastating floods in 2011, the government expanded embankments, water gates and other infrastructure to direct water away from Bangkok, the historic city of Ayutthaya and industrial zones along the Chao Phraya River, which flows through the capital.
Around 20km from Ayutthaya's centuries-old temple ruins, a Unesco heritage site, residents say floods that once reached their knees now rise above their heads in some areas and can take several months to recede.
Thai irrigation department spokesman Thanet Somboon said climate change, low-lying geography and recently built embankments that altered the natural flow of the Chao Phraya have contributed to more severe flooding of downstream communities.
And after irrigation channels were completely full of diverted water, he said authorities had "no choice but to discharge the remaining water downstream".
As flooding in hard-hit districts has become more severe, many who remain have paid to lift their stilt houses higher and keep their living space dry.
The government's flagship fix is a US$780-million flood diversion canal, designed to carry 1,200 cubic metres of water — around half the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool — per second around the bottleneck where the Chao Phraya narrows through Ayutthaya.
It is expected to be completed by 2030. — AFP
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