“The flood… it came like a tsunami. I almost didn’t escape in time.” Mae Somkit recalls the 2011 flood, which nearly swept away her house in Chiang Mai. She continues living today in social and environmental precarity, where some of the impacts of the flood all those years ago continue to affect her. Walking around the neighborhood, there are brown marks on the walls and fences that indicate how high the flood had been. Residents would point to it and lament at the immense effort it took to recover from the flood.
Flooding in Chiang Mai has been a problem since its inception in 1296. Chiang Mai literally means “New City” and was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom. It was founded in by King Mengrai because Lanna’s previous capital, Wiang Kum Kam, was repeatedly flooded by the Ping River. Chiang Mai’s new location was strategic, as it had to be positioned close enough to the Ping River for local merchants’ trade and rice-growing communities’ access to irrigation water.
Since then, the city’s rapid urbanization has exacerbated its flooding issues. The city’s expansion beyond its original site exposes it to the Ping River’s overflow, the rampant use of concrete reduces absorption of rainwater, new housing typologies have shifted away from the stilted houses that were designed to mitigate the impacts of floods, and deforestation increases forest runoff from the adjacent Doi Suthep. These factors result in flooding throughout the city, especially during rainy season (May to October) each year. These floods are hard to track, especially because many of them are flash floods that occur for short periods of time. Most residents indicated the 2005 and 2011 floods as the worst based on the extent of the flood’s damage and the height of the water.
Chiang Mai’s floods have resulted in socioeconomic consequences for locals. Residents that could not afford to elevate their houses to the road level would often have their entire houses flooded. All their belongings would be caked in mud and they had to evacuate if their house did not have a second storey. Beyond the damage to property, everyday activities are affected. Traffic comes to a standstill. Simple things like getting food becomes prohibitively difficult. There are also public health considerations, as wastewater from the septic tanks would rise to ground level, exposing residents to waterborne diseases.
Our team has put together preliminary materials into a timeline format, highlighting key flood events in the past 50 years. These include videos, images and newspaper excerpts that illustrate the severity of floods in those years. In addition, the demographic changes, Ping river dynamics, urban expansion and flood responses were important information during our research process that we wanted to include as context.
Flooding in Chiang Mai has been a problem since its inception in 1296. Chiang Mai literally means “New City” and was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom. It was founded in by King Mengrai because Lanna’s previous capital, Wiang Kum Kam, was repeatedly flooded by the Ping River. Chiang Mai’s new location was strategic, as it had to be positioned close enough to the Ping River for local merchants’ trade and rice-growing communities’ access to irrigation water.
Since then, the city’s rapid urbanization has exacerbated its flooding issues. The city’s expansion beyond its original site exposes it to the Ping River’s overflow, the rampant use of concrete reduces absorption of rainwater, new housing typologies have shifted away from the stilted houses that were designed to mitigate the impacts of floods, and deforestation increases forest runoff from the adjacent Doi Suthep. These factors result in flooding throughout the city, especially during rainy season (May to October) each year. These floods are hard to track, especially because many of them are flash floods that occur for short periods of time. Most residents indicated the 2005 and 2011 floods as the worst based on the extent of the flood’s damage and the height of the water.
Chiang Mai’s floods have resulted in socioeconomic consequences for locals. Residents that could not afford to elevate their houses to the road level would often have their entire houses flooded. All their belongings would be caked in mud and they had to evacuate if their house did not have a second storey. Beyond the damage to property, everyday activities are affected. Traffic comes to a standstill. Simple things like getting food becomes prohibitively difficult. There are also public health considerations, as wastewater from the septic tanks would rise to ground level, exposing residents to waterborne diseases.
Our team has put together preliminary materials into a timeline format, highlighting key flood events in the past 50 years. These include videos, images and newspaper excerpts that illustrate the severity of floods in those years. In addition, the demographic changes, Ping river dynamics, urban expansion and flood responses were important information during our research process that we wanted to include as context.
