Fears that river may burst its banks cause thousands to flee Bangkok

TENS OF thousands fled the Thai capital yesterday as Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river swelled to a new high, swamping the Grand Palace and prompting prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to seek new ways and fresh ideas to stem the country’s worst floods since 1942.

The government has introduced an emergency five-day public holiday and roads have been blocked as citizens tried to get out of the city of 12 million. The tide is expected to peak today and there were fears that river banks could burst under the combined pressure of water from flooded areas and the high tide.

The Chao Phraya broke a record by swelling to 2.47m above the average sea level, just 33cm below the main barriers.

The Grand Palace, situated just 100m from the river, was surrounded by water.

The main business districts of Silom and lower Sukhumvit are still unaffected, with sandbag barriers protecting offices and shops.

The government was considering cutting channels through five major Bangkok roads to drain floodwaters seeping into northern parts of the capital.

“The crisis we’re facing today is the most critical natural disaster that ever happened in Thai history,” Ms Yingluck told reporters. Heavy monsoon rains have inundated the country since July, and she called for politicians to unite across the political divide to help with relief efforts.

“I’d like to ask for co-operation from everyone that we don’t have political parties, nor political games. We must not be divided,” said the leader who won a landslide victory in elections in July.

The floods have killed at least 377 people since July with 2.2 million affected, including hundreds of thousands in Bangkok’s submerged northern districts and in industrialised provinces.

Fr Joe Maier, who runs the Mercy Centre in the slum area Klong Toey, said that many people, especially the elderly were refusing to leave their homes, some from nostalgia but most from fear of theft.

“It is an absolute fact that Bangkok is now flooding, flooded, and will continue to flood as this huge mass of water flows through and around Bangkok into the sea,” he said. The centre is an orphanage and school, and also cares for people with HIV/Aids.

“Over 1,000 slum kindergarten children who attend our schools live in now flooded shacks. Their slums, and thus our kindergartens will be flooded for the next two months. At least so the weatherman tells us; plus another month to repair the school and their shacks back to normal,” he said.

Food prices had risen sharply in the capital, said Fr Maier, with the price of eggs nearly trebled and supplies in shops running low.

Drinking water was becoming a precious commodity and the government tried to reassure residents that the tap water was safe to drink.

Thailand’s central bank cut its forecast for economic growth in the country because of the flooding.