At a seminar in Bangkok on Oct. 7, environmental and public health expert Sonthi Kotchawat urged the government to implement structural reforms immediately rather than merely "learning lessons" after each flood, Bangkok Post reported.

He stressed that Thailand has repeatedly struggled to respond to major flooding, from Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai to Hat Yai in Songkhla Province, and most recently in Bangkok.

The rapid melting of ice and snow in the Arctic, Antarctic, Greenland, and major mountain ranges, along with thawing Siberian permafrost, is driving extreme weather patterns, he said.

Residents wade through flooded streets after heavy rain in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 28, 2026. Photo by AP

Citing projections from the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sonthi noted that global temperatures could reach 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels by 2030.

This temperature rise elevates the risk of alternating droughts and flash floods across Asia.

Southeast Asia is expected to experience increasingly erratic monsoons, intense rainfall, landslides, and flash floods.

Bangkok is especially vulnerable due to its low-lying, basin-like terrain, land subsidence, and rising sea levels.

Parts of the capital are already sinking by 1 to 2 centimeters a year, while sea levels in the Gulf of Thailand are rising by around 4 millimeters annually, Sonthi said, according to Siamrath.

By 2050, sea levels in the Gulf could rise by 20 to 30 centimeters, or potentially as much as 75 centimeters.

Such increases could leave about one-third of Bangkok permanently submerged and force 11 to 12 million people to relocate.

By 2100, sea levels could rise by 1.5 to 1.7 meters, threatening to submerge coastal areas across 24 provinces and cities, including the capital.

Sonthi proposed a comprehensive package combining high-tech infrastructure with spatial planning.

His recommended measures include building seawalls, installing tidal barriers at the mouths of rivers and canals, and developing underground flood-storage facilities and large-scale drainage tunnels.

He added that urban planning should completely prohibit development in natural flood-retention areas and tighten groundwater extraction to slow land subsidence.

At the same time, satellite data, big data, and artificial intelligence should be integrated into early-warning systems.

Addressing administrative barriers, Sonthi said the biggest bottleneck lies in the fragmented and overlapping responsibilities of specialized agencies.

He proposed establishing a unified command center with the authority to issue interagency orders during emergencies.

He also suggested giving provincial governors and local authorities control over disaster-prevention budgets before the rainy and storm seasons begin.

Bangkok was hit by widespread flooding in late September after days of heavy rain overwhelmed drainage systems across the capital.

The city declared all 50 districts disaster areas on Sept. 25, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents and affecting tens of thousands of households.

Floodwaters began receding in many areas by the end of the month, but several low-lying districts in eastern Bangkok continued to experience waterlogging into early October.

The flooding was part of a wider nationwide disaster that affected dozens of provinces, highlighting the challenges Thailand faces in managing intense rainfall and urban flooding.

Thailand's industrial sector has suffered damage worth an estimated 6 billion baht (US$178 million) from floods that have swept through parts of the country since last month, a Federation of Thai Industries official told Reuters on Wednesday.