Mae Sai Flood Damage Inspection

[DavidFL]

An afternoon excursion was made to check up on dear old Mae Sai and the flood damage. Rumour had it that the Sai Lom Joy market was back in business.

Steve Merchant & I agreed to meet at the Panor Coffee at Mae Chan for brunch for me & lunch for Steve.
The meal selections confirmed the different time zones that Steve & I operate on.
I'm a night person, and Steve is an early bird. Steve had spaghetti carbonara for lunch, and I had the American breakfast and two croissants.

The super lovely, bubbly Miss Nid, a sensational young Akha gal, served us. Steve noticed and commented, "This must be the girl you spoke of." Indeed, it was. A quick chat with Nit confirmed that neither her place in Mae Sai, behind Tesco Lotus, nor her parents' place in Phan, south of Chiang Rai, suffered any damage. We lingered longer at the Panor, maybe under the spell of Nid, and didn't head off to Mae Sai until 1:30 p.m.

Entering Mae Sai city, you immediately see the dust from the dried mud permeating the air nicely.

A semblance of normal life is returning, with the main street generally cleared of mud and access straight to the border bridge.

The traffic is congested like the good ol' days.

The Shan/Burmese people in the street were noticeable, sitting down with their plastic shopping bags.
I understand the situation on the Tachilek side is direr, with few supplies. Hence, the Burma crowds came over to stock up on whatever they could get.
Whilst the Sailom Joy market by the river was still closed, the Doi Wao market was operating and damn busy!

We triple-parked our bikes with the mob, and I left my helmet for safekeeping in a shop.

The underground driveway of the Wang Tong Hotel.

Note the high mound of mud out the back in what used to be the hotel car park.

My favourite motorbike car park was by the river, at the back of a Sang Lar jewellery shop, still under deep mud.
Access was impossible, but I was to take a photo through the rear shop windows.

No mud and clean in good times.

You could access the #1 tourist sign in Mae Sai via a slippery sidewalk

The river scene by the bridge.

The river still seems to be high and flowing fiercely, but you have to wonder if it is now full of mud and rubble.

The entrance to the famous Sai Lom Joy market is on the west upstream side of the bridge.
Access is still tricky - mud & snot, metres of it!

Backhoes & loaders are slowly working through the mud, reclaiming the roadway.

The mud inside the market is still metres high, with many people unable to access their homes.
Ironically, one of the issues now is not enough water to wash away the mud.
The mud is drying fast and is hard. It will be more challenging to remove as time passes.

Destroyed goods washed away from the shops in the marketplace.

Cleaning out an underground carpark that was full of mud.

A bucket brigade!

A damaged souvenir shop.

Rubble piled up in the street.

While the main street was okay, any side streets were a severe challenge due to mud.

Towing out a car that had been trapped in the mud.

Weary workers taking a break.

We met a charming, hard-working team of army rescue staff from Chiang Mai.

The team leader, a female, spoke good English and was extremely polite.
We had a very humorous moment with them.
They had been at the big cave for the rescue of the Wild Boar football team, got excited and immediately asked for a selfie photo with Steve, believing him to one of the cave rescue team. Steve was embarrassed and declined a photo!
I didn't hesitate, of course. Thank you, Steve, for the photos.

Apologies to Julian in Mae Sai for not checking in.
My phone battery ran out before I finished.
I will post some of your pics next for an "on-the-scene" update = more to come.

 

[DavidFL]

The dust issue is in the news.

Dust a new problem following mudslides in Mae Sai

Residents of Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai are grappling with thick dust as mudslides triggered by heavy rain and flooding continue to pose challenges.

www.bangkokpost.com

 

[DavidFL]

Update 29 November 2024.

An interesting article on the possible cause of the massive mud flows in the recent flooding.
It suggests that both the Sai / Ruak River at Mae Sai and the Kok River at Tha Ton suffer from gold and / or coal mining upstream in Myanmar.


Karen Information Center
Thursday, November 28, 2024

Myanmar Gold Mining Blamed for Polluted Thai Rivers

Two towns either side of the Sai River, that delineates the border between Myanmar and Thailand, have suffered significant river sediment build up due to excessive mining on the Myanmar side.

On 14 August 2024, torrential rains triggered flooding in Shan State’s Tachileik Town on the Myanmar side and Mae Sai Town in Chiang Rai Province, on the Thai side. While both towns have faced floods in previous years, this year’s event was unprecedented, leaving behind large amounts of sediment after the floodwaters receded.

According to a report on the pollution, by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), a Thai government study identified the mining of gold and minerals in eastern Shan State as the cause of the unprecedented mud damage in Mae Sai Town.

The study, conducted in October 2024, by Thailand's Department of Natural Resources, revealed that large-scale gold mining in the upper parts of the Sai River in the eastern part of Mong Hsat District, Shan State, was the cause of the significant sediment buildups.
The mining is causing serious environmental degradation in the immediate vicinity of the mines, while run-off from the mines is polluting and clogging nearby rivers, impacting the health and safety of downstream communities, the study suggested.

The Sai River is one of several Mekong tributaries and sub-tributaries in eastern Shan State that have been impacted by expanded mining in recent years.

Ying Leng Harn, a spokesperson for the SHRF said to KIC: “Sediment accumulation has primarily increased due to gold mining activities.
Following the floods, significant sediment buildup occurred, negatively affecting the local community.
Additionally, chemicals commonly used in gold mining often dissolve into the river water.
When people use this water, it can pose health risks, and if used for agriculture, it can harm crops.
These impacts are already being felt.”

She also said that pregnant women living near rivers downstream from the mining areas have suffered more miscarriages than would normally be expected and people have suffered other adverse effects from using water from rivers that have flowed through gold mining areas

Scientific testing carried out as part of the Thai government study showed that sediment left on the Sai River bank by the recent flooding showed high levels of heavy metals associated with mining, particularly arsenic, nickel and zinc.
The amount of zinc in one sample was found to be 18 times higher than recommended safety levels.

Gold mining activities by armed groups have, over the last two years, become increasingly widespread in the eastern part of Shan State’s Mong Hsat District, on the border with Thailand.

Mining is happening in Mongkan and Naryawng villages and the surrounding areas which are controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) as well as in Maekyoke Village 1 and Maekyoke Village 2 which are under the control the junta and an allied Lahu militia group, the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), according to Ying Leng Harn.

The junta and the LDU have also set up numerous guard posts near mining operations, according to locals.

SHRF also reported that the Nam Kok River that flows through Mong Hsat District and then on to the northern Thai town of Chiang Rai has been polluted by gold and coal mining in Shan State.

 

[DavidFL]

Return to Mae Sai - A Post Great Flood Recovery Inspection.
Update 3 months after the flood and a return to scene of the flood crime.

The Sailom Joy market is now open again and operating.

Part of the new defense against future floods is a high levee bank alongside the Sai River, that forms the border with Myanmar.
Or, maybe that was the easiest way to dispose of the massive amounts of mud?

At the far upstream end, the old Mae Sai River GH may never reopen properly?

It used to look like this.

This area took the blunt of the flood as it poured downstream.
How is used to look.

It was all buried under mud, if not washed away..
A new police box is being rebuilt.

The open air view point is gone, Buried under mud.

It used to look like this.

More to come.

 

[DavidFL]

At the end of the road, I sat outside a small shop and chatted with some women.
Like everyone in the immediate river area, they had been trapped upstairs in their house for a couple of days before boats came to rescue them.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people had been trapped in their homes.
As the flood waters rose, they moved upstairs to escape momentarily, but the water kept coming, and there was no escape.

I attempted to buy a 10 baht bottle of water from their little shop but discovered I only had a 5 baht coin in my pocket.
Paying by phone wasn't good because they didn't have a mobile banking or handy bank account number.
Ok, never mind, 5 baht is ok.

In the image above, they were trapped on the house's second floor for two or three days.
The oldest lady had lived there for 40+ years and had never seen a flood like this one.
When asked if she would have to move with the government's new flood protection and recovery plans, she said she had no idea. No one had told her anything.

The volume of mud left is still amazing.
It was also incredible to see how some houses remained intact while the buildings next door had been destroyed and washed away.

Where a house has been destroyed, the lucky ones were to get new ones sponsored by donations and foundations.

Almost everyone I talked to had a fantastic story to tell.

Watching a new house being built, I struck up a conversation with an elderly woman watching the construction.
Asked how she had fared in the flood.
She said she lost her house, and a foundation was building that new one for her.

She had lived there for 50 years and had never seen a flood like that.
She lost everything.
I gave her 1,000 baht to help her out.

A house with only a few beams and a roof left.

Inspecting the devastation, the next-door neighbour came to chat with me about who I was and what I was doing.
Oh, I'm just a tourist voyeur who has come to take a look around.
I was here 3 months ago and wanted to see how everyone was doing.
I said he was lucky; the intact walls of his house were much stronger than those of the destroyed one.
Oh, that wasn't the flood.
The backhoe operator stupidly broke down all the house walls to get out the mud !!
We told them to piss off, and we would get the mud out of our house alone.

Having a meal in your mud-scoured home.

The Monkey Island Pub, which used to be a popular night spot.

Confirmation of the flood height.

Some house owners were building new high walls at the front of their houses.

A diligent motorcycle repair shop owner endeavouring to restart & get back into the business.

A popular coffee shop and car parking service were destroyed, but they were aiming to partially reopen for the New Year.

I've used their services a couple of times!

Getting a functional toilet again may require moving quite a bit of crap.

Mud and rubble fill the drains.

What used to be a good restaurant with pizzas.

The once-popular riverside restaurant by the bridge may never reopen.

When the road under the bridge reopens will also be a serious challenge.

It obviously is not a priority.

The new Mae Sai will be interesting to see in a couple of years.