even though these waterways are all over the place, the area still floods every other year or so. There really isn't anything they can do other than move the entire city. In particularly bad years the damn (which is necessary for anyone here to have water) breaches or the water has to be released on a time table and people in certain areas are made aware of the fact that most likely, their property will be flooded. The buildings near the rivers and klongs get flooded on a regular basis and for that reason the bottom floor is normally where you keep noting of value or the buildings themselves are on stilts in preparation for the inevitable.