Will Bangkok see major floods again? That question has been on the mind of many city dwellers after an overnight deluge last weekend gave rise to rumours that more heavy rain is on the way plus a familiar yet unsettling warning for people to move their belongings to higher ground.
What is most chilling about the latest flood is perhaps the realisation that, despite the past horrible experiences, the city, or country, remains as vulnerable to floods and other natural disasters as it has ever been.
Blame it on people throwing out garbage that clogs the city's drainage system, the alleged inefficiency of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)'s "giant tunnels" or the alleged poor management of storage systems in reservoirs.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a columnist, Bangkok Post.
One thing this weekend showed us is that perhaps we haven't done much to address to situation since those disastrous floods six years ago that cost us more than 1.4 trillion baht (US$47 billion), or 13% of GDP.
The government and the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) quickly dismissed fears of more major flooding as groundless. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted last week that the situation in 2011 would not be repeated this year.
He said all large-scale reservoirs are not as full now as they were six years ago. Water runoff at the Chao Phraya barrage, the water gateway to the Central Plains and Bangkok, is also less than in 2011, Gen Prayut said.
While some areas in the North, Northeast and along the banks of the Chao Phraya River are still submerged in floodwater, the RID has assured the public it is highly unlikely there will be a months-long, several-metres-deep deluge this year like that in 2011.
The RID based its optimism on the fact there is less accumulated rainfall in the North this year -- 1,298 millimetres compared to 1,614mm in 2011.
Also, water runoff at the Chao Phraya dam in Nakhon Sawan has stood at just 2,630 cubic metres per second this year, compared to 4,650 cu/m per second in the year of the big flood.
The Chao Phraya and its tributaries have not burst their banks. Overall, the situation is under control, the RID said.
For many people, the memories of 2011 that have come flooding in remind them not just of the hardship and damage they suffered during the prolonged and widespread deluge but also the plans and proposals -- all grand, elaborate, seemingly long-term and sustainable -- that came up after the disaster.
Determined not to let this happen -- many saw the problem not so much as a natural disaster but as a case of mismanaged water resources -- government agencies, academia and public intellectuals made numerous prescriptions for what should be done.
National-level committees were also appointed to study possible solutions and make recommendations to the government.
We have heard ambitious ideas, such as constructing new floodways along the Chao Phraya River to help the water flow out to the sea faster, and smaller-scale methods like dredging existing canals.
Back then, when the pain of seeing our belongings soaked and subsequently destroyed in floodwater, was still fresh, there was talk of streamlining laws and agencies concerned with water management.
According to a policy brief on water resources and flood management by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) in 2013, the authority to manage water resources is embedded in 50 laws, involving more than 30 state agencies across seven ministries. Yet none of the laws authorises agencies to divert water for different usage, and none deals specifically with flood management.
A plan to set up a Water Ministry to consolidate all of the agencies has been discussed for decades but has never got off the ground.
As for Bangkok, if garbage is the core problem leading to the recurrent flood-related problems, do we need a finer mesh to screen it out of the gutter?
Since there has been doubt about the efficiency of the BMA's giant water-drainage tunnels, can they somehow be tested? If it turns out that Bangkok can't handle the situation where the rainwater exceeds a certain amount, then the time may have come for a proper flood warning system.
Don't forget that Bangkok is sinking while the sea level is rising. Studies show the city could be under water in 15 years. Is that not a cause for alarm?
It seems there is still no long-term plan for flood prevention. Authorities tell us not to panic, however. After all, winter is coming.