October 27th, 2011
09:49 AM ET

Bangkok residents flee rising floodwaters

Thursday was the first of five government-declared holidays in Thailand, but it was not a day of fun. Floodwaters crept slowly but surely into Bangkok, stressing embankments and making roads, parking lots, factories and markets more suitable for fish than people.

Bangkok residents used the holiday to stream out of the capital, seeking higher ground or temporary shelters. Many saw floodwater enter their homes uninvited, their belongings soaked beyond salvage.

Most of Bangkok was expected to be flooded Thursday, with up to 1 meter (3.2 feet) of water in some areas, said Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, as the Chao Phraya River threatened to spill over holding walls and into the city of almost 10 million people.

Several districts were under a mandatory evacuation order.

Yingluck conceded Bangkok is entering a critical stage, the MCOT news agency reported. She said it was impossible to divert the floodwater and that it would certainly flow through every part of the metropolitan area.

"There is water from underground coming up," said Pracha Promnok, chief of the Flood Relief Operations Center. "We are unable to do anything (to stop it)."

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Filed under: Thailand • World • World Update
soundoff (7 Responses)
  1. Quan Lo

    Thiarand berry historica city. Many ancient buirdings and timpas. Hope my peopes be okay.

    October 27, 2011 at 9:57 am | Report abuse |
  2. bobcat2u

    Bangkok was one of the mos beautiful cities I ever visited. You hate to think about the destruction that could possibly take place from these floods.

    October 27, 2011 at 10:34 am | Report abuse |
  3. banasy©

    I agree, bobcat; I was just thinking the same thing.
    I hope that the treasures that is Bangkok can be saved.
    Floods can be very, very damaging; we've seen enough of that here.

    My thoughts go out to the Thai people.

    October 27, 2011 at 10:38 am | Report abuse |
  4. justathought

    Good report, but the reporter got too poetic

    October 27, 2011 at 12:03 pm | Report abuse |
  5. 4MillyR

    hehe bangkok hehe

    October 27, 2011 at 5:32 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Ahmed Imtiaz

    A flood of this magnitude happens every 50 years in Thailand. The sad reality is that people tend to forget the previous flood just a few years down and continue to abuse the canals and sewer systems that are essential for the control of flood causing rains.

    The upsight is that when the floods subside, the rice harvest is always a bumper crop.

    October 28, 2011 at 2:35 am | Report abuse |
  7. Aud

    It only means that people are not learning the sad experience of the flood.Tsk!Tsk!People easily forget,we must learned from the past and look forward for the future.

    October 28, 2011 at 6:13 am | Report abuse |
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