The monsoon rains struck South East Asia with ferocity this year. Rivers overflowed their banks and villages were inundated by the swollen streams. Thais are accustomed to floods, but this monsoon season took the country by surprise.
In August I drove hub-deep through Sukhothai on my way to the ancient city. My daughter thought it was fun. The people of the city were evacuating their houses. The situation got much worse, as the rains continued late in October.
The situation was exacerbated by the destruction of forests and the construction of housing estates on drainage areas. The Chao Phyra River was running at record levels and towns vanished under the rising water. By mid-month the nation was cut in half by a new lake and Bangkok was threatened with a New Orleans-like catastrophe.
While hundreds of lives have been lost to the natural calamity, a greater disaster has been averted with the cessation of the monsoon and the start of the cold season. Bangkok remains at risk, but the central city survived the season without serious flooding.
The assessment of damage will be in the billions and no one has been reporting on the devastation to neighboring Cambodia, whose infrastructure is primitive in comparison to Thailand.
Food and water are in shortage and rice prices are soaring into the sky, thanks to hoarding by the middlemen.
My family came out safe and sound.
I pray the same for others.
There is no global warming according to the readers of the Bible.
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