Climate crisis batters Thailand, threatening long-term economic stability

New-era rainfall overwhelms city systems

Chawalit Chantharat, a water-resource engineer and board member of Team Consulting Engineering and Management Group (Team Group), said Thailand’s most critical vulnerability in coping with mega-floods lies in outdated “water masterplans” and obsolete infrastructure. 

Without urgent reform, he warned, the country could face future economic losses worth tens of billions of baht.

“Thailand has entered an era of permanent climate shifts. The turning point was in 2021, which shattered the old belief that disasters occur and subside quickly,” he said.

Today’s rainfall has transformed into “high-intensity storms” or “cloudbursts” — extreme downpours concentrated in small areas rather than spread over wide regions.

Examples include the 350 millimetres of rain that fell over eight hours in Phuket, and the 300 millimetres recorded in San Pa Tong, Chiang Mai. Such levels far exceed the capacity of urban drainage systems, which were designed for far milder rainfall patterns.