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🇹🇭 Bangkok

Bangkok Flood Control Centre: Drainage Telemetry & Street-Level Forecasting

Bangkok's drainage department runs two weather radars, a rain-gauge network and canal, river and road level sensors, feeding a flood control centre staffed around the clock and a public site showing water levels and flooded roads. A Delft-FEWS system built for the city in 2021 forecasts street-level flood depth at four-metre resolution, and a 2024 tie-up with Weathernews adds three-hour rain nowcasts. Crews still work the 200 pumping stations, 243 gates and four tunnels themselves; pumping pre-emptively on a forecast is still being studied. On 3 November 2025, 131.5 mm fell in Lak Si against a 60 mm design capacity and the roads went under anyway.

Live 📅 since 2021 🤖 Uses AI ✔ Editor-reviewed

✔ Reviewed by the 1001 Smart Cities editorial desk · 🔎 Last verified

🌱 EnvironmentSensors & IoTWaterArtificial intelligence

🎓 Lesson

Instrumentation buys warning time, not capacity. Bangkok can see a storm three hours out and still cannot pump faster than the rain falls.

Evidence🏛️ Official
Scale🏙️ City-wide

Sources

↗ BMA Department of Drainage and Sewerage — Drainage Information Division (Thai)Primary: the division's mandate covers operating Bangkok's weather radar, developing the telemetry measurement equipment and running the flood prevention control centre, establishing the city rather than a national agency as operator.
↗ Bangkok Metropolitan Administration press release, 22 July 2025 (Thai)Supports the counts (4 large tunnels, 200 pumping stations, 243 floodgates, 349 sump wells), 24-hour staffing of pumping stations, coordination centres in all 50 districts, and the three-hour AI rain forecast.
↗ Deltares — FEWS-Bangkok case descriptionSupports the 2021 build year, the city as client, street-level flood depth forecasts at four-metre resolution, and the key governance point: using the pumps proactively ahead of events is described as still being investigated.
↗ MGR Online — the city launches AI Nowcast with Weathernews, 15 March 2024 (Thai)Supports the two city radars at Nong Khaem and Nong Chok, the Weathernews partnership and the three-hour rainfall forecast horizon.
↗ MGR Online — the flood prevention centre's public channels, 6 June 2017 (Thai)Supports the public-facing layer: the city weather site and the drainage department site, plus messaging-app and social alerts every 15 minutes on rain, standing water and traffic.
↗ The Nation Thailand — rainfall exceeds drainage capacity, 3 November 2025Counterweight: the governor states the system is designed for 60 mm of rain; 131.5 mm fell in Lak Si and Lak Si, Bang Na, Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei and Don Mueang flooded regardless.
↗ The Nation Thailand — Bangkok steps up its flood defences, 1 June 2026Currency check: the system was still operating and expanding in 2026, with automatic monitoring at more than 300 locations, three-hour radar forecasts, four tunnels and a fifth in testing, and drainage capacity raised from 60 to 80 mm an hour. Those capacity figures belong to the concrete works, not to the telemetry, and are not used as an impact claim.
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Bangkok Flood Control Centre: Drainage Telemetry & Street-Level Forecasting” — Bangkok, Thailand. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/bangkok-drainage-telemetry/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

🔗 Related projects

🇯🇵 Tsunami-Alert Automatic Tide Gate Closure · Osaka Osaka's gates close themselves on an alert; Bangkok forecasts flood depth to four metres and still opens its pumps by hand. 🇰🇷 Busan Urban Flood Warning System (Busan Safety ON) · Busan Busan warns without a barrier at 41 of 57 underpasses; Bangkok warns every 15 minutes and works its 200 pump stations by hand. 🇩🇰 Copenhagen's Cloudburst Management Plan · Copenhagen Copenhagen rebuilt streets to hold the rain; Bangkok measures it instead, and 131.5 mm fell on drains designed for 60. 🇮🇩 Jakarta Neighbourhood Flood Sirens and Sensor Posts · Jakarta Two last miles: Jakarta bolts loudspeakers to poles; Bangkok pushes water levels and flooded roads to phones every 15 minutes.

🧭 Explore the atlas

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