BANG BAN, THAILAND – A low-lying district in Ayutthaya has again been deliberately flooded to protect Bangkok from heavy monsoon rains, leaving communities submerged for months and residents demanding fairer compensation and a rethink of flood policy.
Flood retention zone under growing strain
Bang Ban, a district designated since 2017 as a flood-retention area, absorbs overflow from the Chao Phraya and Noi rivers during the six-month rainy season to spare downstream cities such as Bangkok. Locals say the floods are intensifying year by year, rising higher and lasting longer than before. “People tell us to get used to flooding because we live in a retention zone. But how can we when water keeps rising and the floods last longer?” asked Sawas Sanyawiri, a village head in Bang Ban.
Homes submerged, daily life upended
Residents report water levels now reaching several meters, sometimes inundating second floors where they once slept. In the past, floodwaters rarely exceeded two metres and typically receded after a few months. “Now the nightmare lasts at least three months every year,” Sawas said. Some people have evacuated to higher ground, but others remain in half-submerged homes, sleeping on raised platforms and rowing out through windows when they need to leave their houses.
Compensation far from adequate
The government has offered 9,000 baht (about €234) per household affected in Bang Ban, while farmers can claim 1,000 baht per rai of flooded land up to a 10,000-baht cap. Residents call the relief measures insufficient. “We cannot sustain ourselves while cut off by floods, and when the water recedes we will need time and money to repair our homes,” Sawas said. He also questioned why some parts of the district remain dry while others are deliberately inundated.
Health risks and unequal aid distribution
In neighbouring Sena district, a 74-year-old woman said her house has been underwater for more than two months and she has developed a fungal infection on her feet. She complained that aid packages have been distributed unevenly, with some households receiving more help than others. Seventy-seven-year-old Sawaeng Janpitak said she has grown weary of the annual deluge: “This problem hits us every year. Why do the authorities not fix it?” she asked, adding that the floods have reduced her family to long-term hardship.
Authorities point to infrastructure progress
About a quarter of Ayutthaya’s land area, including Bang Ban and Sena, is used as designated retention space under Thailand’s flood-management strategy. Ayutthaya, roughly an hour north of Bangkok, temporarily stores excess water to protect economic centres downstream. Supachai Mapol, director of a Royal Irrigation Department (RID) project, defended the approach: “Retention zones are necessary to protect the capital from flooding.” He said a drainage canal between Bang Ban and Bang Sai is about 95 percent complete and should accelerate water removal through Ayutthaya.
Experts demand strategic overhaul and AI tools
Locals remain skeptical that the canal alone will end the annual crisis. Professor Arthit Thongin, a civil-rights expert, said discharge is not managed evenly across retention areas and that roads sometimes act as unintended flood barriers, protecting some communities while submerging others. He said residents accept living in low-lying areas but expect better water management and drainage and fairer compensation that covers lost income and education disruptions, not only property damage.
Professor Seree Supratid, director of the Centre for Climate Change and Disaster at Rangsit University, warned that Ayutthaya’s yearly flood crisis will continue unless Thailand revamps its flood strategy. He urged the government to create permanent retention zones further north before runoff reaches Nakhon Sawan, even if that requires land expropriation and resettlement. He also recommended using artificial intelligence and predictive modelling to improve water-management decisions.
How much sacrifice is acceptable?
Year after year, Ayutthaya is kept underwater for months so Bangkok can remain dry. While the capital is protected, families in Bang Ban lose their homes, income and dignity. Are authorities doing enough to compensate those who bear the cost, or are provinces being sacrificed for the sake of the metropolis? Readers are invited to share their opinions.
Source: ThaiPBS