Heavy monsoon rains in mid-October triggered landslides and kept rivers and lakes overruning their banks. The flooding was worsened on October 18 when officials needed to release water from the Krasiao Reservoir, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Bangkok. That very same day, the 1,300-year-old reclining Buddha at Wat Dhammachakra Sema Ram– the nations oldest and longest such statue– was likewise swamped.
In these false-color images of the area north of Bangkok, water appears dark blue; saturated soil is light blue; vegetation is intense green; bare ground is tan; and clouds are white or turquoise. The images were obtained by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite on October 20, 2021, and October 19, 2019.
Between September 27 and October 19, 2021, more than 13,600 square kilometers of the country were inundated and an approximated 1.3 million people were impacted by the flooding, according to the Thailand Flood Monitoring Dashboard (from the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency).
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.
October 19, 2019
October 20, 2021
Current storms included to an already heavy monsoon season.
Persistent rain in mid-October 2021 brought more flooding to northeastern and central Thailand, where rivers and reservoirs were already running high. According to the Thailand Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 32 of the nations 76 provinces have been impacted by flooding throughout a monsoon season that has actually brought heavy rains for nearly a month.
In late September and early October, Tropical Storm Dianmu inundated the region, causing flash flooding and the activation of the International Disaster Charter. Hurricane Kompasu followed, bringing more heavy rain to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.
In early October, archaeological sites in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, home to many temples and ruins, were flooded by the Chao Phraya River. The State Railway of Thailand also briefly suspended some northern train routes.
Heavy monsoon rains in mid-October activated landslides and kept lakes and rivers overruning their banks. The flooding was worsened on October 18 when authorities had to launch water from the Krasiao Reservoir, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Bangkok.
By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
October 23, 2021