More districts of Thailand's capital were on high alert today with floods bearing down from northern Bangkok as authorities raced to pump water towards the sea and defend the business district.
Hundreds of people were evacuated over the weekend as water in residential areas of the northern Lak Si and Don Muang suburbs reached levels as high as two metres (six feet), testing flood defences and spilling out of swollen canals and rivers.
Thailand's worst flooding in five decades has killed at least 356 people and affected nearly 2.5 million, with more than 113,000 living in temporary shelters and 720,000 people seeking medical attention.
Central areas and the industrialised provinces of Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and Ayutthaya on the northern fringes of the Bangkok are the worst hit, but with rivers and canals at a constant risk of bursting, the city of 12 million is on edge.
Floods in northern Bangkok were seen as inevitable with most canal gates opened since Friday, diverting an estimated 8 million cubic metres of water a day around the east and west of the city and down the Chao Phraya river, in which water levels have reached a seven-year high.
Prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have been at odds over how to manage the crisis and have been accused of sending conflicting signals or playing down the threat.
Ms Yingluck said the process of diverting the water was running smoothly, but Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra took a more alarming tone when he warned residents in six more northern areas to be ready to get out.
"The situation is getting serious and we expect it to get worse," Mr Sukhumbhand told a news conference. "I have said, if the situation becomes a crisis, I'll be the first one to tell you, and now I'm telling you."
The issue has already become politicised with battles over jurisdiction and conflict between the ruling Puea Thai Party and the former ruling Democrat Party-led BMA, which has been accused of trying to discredit Ms Yingluck and turn the catastrophe into a crisis of her leadership. All sides say they are cooperating.
The military, which is helping with relief efforts, also has strained ties with Ms Yingluck and she has refused to declare a state of emergency granting power to the army.
Instead, she invoked a disaster law on Friday, giving her full authority over the governor and army chief.
Twenty-eight of Thailand's 77 provinces are affected, with water covering an area 16 times the size of Hong Kong.
Reuters