August 6, 20197 yr From Reuters LOPBURI, Thailand (Reuters) - Thousands are flocking to see a Buddhist temple in central Thailand exposed after drought drove water levels to record lows in a dam reservoir where it had been submerged. As the reservoir reaches less than 3% of capacity, the remains of Wat Nong Bua Yai, a modern temple submerged during construction of the dam 20 years ago, have became visible in the middle of dry ground. Some Buddhist monks were among the hundreds of people who walked through broken temple structures on cracked earth littered with dead fish last week to pay respects to a headless 4-metre (13-feet) -tall Buddha statue, adorning it with flowers. "The temple is normally covered by water. In the rainy season you don't see anything," said one of the visitors, Somchai Ornchawiang, a 67-year-old retired teacher. He regretted the temple flooding but is now worried about the damage the drought is causing to farmland, he added. The dam, with capacity of 960 million cubic meters, normally irrigates more than 1.3 million acres (526,000 hectares)of farmland in four provinces, but drought has cut that to just 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) in the single province of Lopburi. The meteorological department says Thailand is facing its worst drought in a decade, with water levels in dams nationwide having fallen far short of the monthly average. Continues at https://news.yahoo.com/drought-reveals-lost-temple-thailand-003158324.html
August 14, 20197 yr From DW World news There is an unexpected silver lining to the severe drought in Thailand that has left fields parched and more than a dozen reservoirs nearly empty: A Buddhist temple has reemerged from the receding waters of a reservoir. Continues with video https://www.dw.com/en/thai-temple-resurfaces-from-drought-stricken-reservoir/av-50023552
August 16, 20197 yr I have never known a year like this weatherise in Thailand. First there was no cool season. Around December and January nights should be a lot cooler and many days with overall temperatures dropping at least 7 or 8 degrees. Apart from one short period, this did not happen. Now in mid August we have had virtually no rain. I can recall only two heavy thunderstorms since Songkran. Normally there will be a couple a week. Often I would open the curtains to grey skies. This morning, as with most mornings in the last few months, it is bright and sunny. Unless there is a bucketload of rain in the next 3 months I fear water rationing will not be far away.
August 16, 20197 yr Water is already a major problem in Surin. The local reservoirs have been dry and the water turned off in the city for about a week/ten days now. Water trucks are being used to provide people with a minimum amount of water. The authorities are building a pipe line to drain some old quarries situated about 10 km from the city into the reservoirs and hope to have some water by the 19th My partner and I live in a village about 9 km from Surin City and until now I had not considered it an advantage that we are too far out to be connected to the mains water system, when we built our house we had to sink a bore hole to access a water supply. Currently we have had no interruption to our supply which I think was bored down about 25 meters https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1727555/drought-struck-surin-hospital-declares-emergency
August 17, 20197 yr From the Bangkok Post No water for farms from Aug 24 as reservoir dries up The Lam Sae reservoir, the main source of water in Khon Buri district of Nakhon Ratchasima, is drying up. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert) NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Irrigation authorities will stop supplying water to farms in irrigated areas from Aug 24 as the Lam Sae reservoir in Khon Buri district is just 21% full and starting to dry up. District chief Wichit Kitwirat and Somsak Thaploka, director of the Lam Sae operation and maintenance project, met on Saturday with representatives of local residents in irrigated areas in Khon Buri district to discuss the challenges facing the district. The amount of water at Lam Sae reservoir now stands at 60 million cubic metres, or 21% of its storage capacity of 275 million cu/m. The reservoir normally supplies more than one million cu/m a day to households, industrial operators and farms. Mr Somsak said officials had earlier predicted that rainfall would be less than 30% of the average during the rainy season. However, the volume of rainfall so far this year has been 70% below average, he added. Officials said it was thus necessary to stop supplying water to the agricultural sector, starting from Aug 24, until conditions returned to normal, he said. Continues with photos Officials said it was thus necessary to stop supplying water to the agricultural sector, starting from Aug 24, until conditions returned to normal, he said. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1731975/no-water-for-farms-from-aug-24-as-reservoir-dries-up
August 18, 20197 yr A clear sign of how serious the situation is. "The Big Boss" is visiting Surin tomorrow
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