BANGKOK – The Thai capital Bangkok is gearing up for further flooding amid fears that it could take a month and a half for the deluge to recede, as water started to pour into the outer suburbs.
So far, most of the city of nine million people has not been overly affected by the country’s worst flooding in half a century and the city’s two airports, crucial to Thailand’s tourist industry, are operating normally. However, the flooding crisis has led to 356 dead and 113,000 displaced so far and more rain is expected.
Other southeast Asian nations have been badly hit by the flooding following unusually heavy monsoon rains this year, with hundreds dead in Cambodia and dozens reported dead in flash floods in Burma.
"Flee to the rooftops!" ran the headline in the Bangkok Postnewspaper, as prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged Thais in the affected areas to spend the forthcoming holiday period moving their possessions to higher ground. She said authorities were doing everything possible to drive the water out, but it was a race against time.
“Water is coming from different places and headed in the same direction,” Ms Yingluck added. “We’re trying to build walls but there will be some impact on Bangkok.”
There was a possibility of heavy rainfall into canals and rivers already full. The flooding has proven a stern test of her government, which came to power in July and which has been criticised for not acting quickly or decisively enough to prevent major damage to towns north of Bangkok.
Most of the flooding has affected central parts of the country, but the water has risen to three metres at times on the outskirts of the capital, with cars completely submerged and some residents feared stranded in their homes.
Media coverage has shown relief work being carried out by jet ski, while TV footage showed boats and cars passing each other on the street. In one case, a two-metre long crocodile was caught in a residential area. The government has offered a bounty for crocodiles missing from farms.
The public health ministry ordered hospitals in flood-prone areas in Bangkok and Pathum Thani to evacuate patients on the critical list to big hospitals in flood-free provinces. Troops were seeking to fortify flood walls around the city to protect two key industrial zones.
So far, 28 of 77 provinces and 2.46 million people have been affected by the flooding. Ms Yingluck has said it could take as long as six weeks for the waters to subside.
