Bangkok vulnerable to floods

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All parts of Bangkok are now vulnerable to flooding, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has warned.

In a televised address, she warned that parts of the capital could be inundated by up to 1.5m (5ft) of water.

Hundreds of people who had been evacuated to the city's second airport, Don Muang, are now being moved again after flood waters reached the runway.

More than 360 people have been killed and 100,000 displaced by the country's worst flooding in more than 50 years.

The crisis is an early test for the prime minister, who took office in August and has previously been criticised for failing to take the flood threat seriously enough.

But any lingering sense of complacency has long gone, says the BBC's Rachel Harvey in Bangkok.

The water's steady progress now seems unstoppable, our correspondent adds.

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Thai capital warned "massive" water on the way

Floods swamped a new area of Thailand's capital on Wednesday as some shops rationed food and Bangkok's governor warned of "massive water" on the way that could put many parts of the sprawling city in danger by the end of the week.

Large-scale evacuation was underway in Bang Phlad, a riverside area some way from Bangkok's inundated northern districts, as floods hit the capital on a second front, deepening anxiety in the city of 12 million people, many of whom were expected to flee before a special five-day holiday.

"Now we're at a critical moment, we need to monitor the situation closely from 28-31 October, when many areas might be critical," Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra told reporters on Wednesday. "Massive water is coming."

Sukhumbhand said 90 percent of the northern Don Muang district was under water and Bang Phlad was in a critical situation. Fourteen city districts were threatened by floods and two more could be hit on Thursday, he said.

Thailand's worst flooding in half a century has killed at least 373 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, with more than 113,000 in shelters and 720,000 people seeking medical attention.

Bangkok residents scrambled to stock up on food, but bottled water was nowhere to be seen and some shops restricted customers to small quantities of food to prevent hoarding. Bus stations were packed as thousands prepared to leave the city.

With high tide approaching in the Gulf of Thailand, Seri Supharatid, director of Rangsit University's Center on Climate Change and Disaster, said the city's fate rested with river dykes holding.

"In the worst-case scenario, if all the dykes break, all parts of Bangkok would be more or less flooded," Seri said.

The economic damage is difficult to quantify, but the central bank has revised its growth forecast for southeast Asia's second-biggest economy to 3.1 percent this year from 4.1 percent. The finance minister's projection was a gloomier 2 percent.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who said two weeks ago that Bangkok was likely to escape the floodwaters, said on Wednesday that it could be flooded for as long as a month.

"But we shouldn't face water as high as two or three meters or staying for two or three months as we've seen in other provinces," she told reporters.

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Bangkok floods: Thousands flee as waters approach

Thousands of residents are rushing to leave the Thai capital Bangkok, which is braced for potentially severe flooding over the weekend.

The city's bus and train stations and many roads are jammed by crowds of people attempting to flee.

People in several northern districts of the capital - some of which are now 90% submerged by rising water - have been told they should evacuate immediately.

More than 360 people have died in Thailand's worst flooding in decades.

The crisis is an early test for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who took office in August and has previously been criticised for failing to take the flood threat seriously enough.

"It's a crisis, because if we try to resist this massive amount of floodwater, a force of nature, we won't win," Ms Yingluck said.

"But if we allow it to flow freely then people in many areas are prepared."

Any lingering sense of complacency has long gone, says the BBC's Rachel Harvey in Bangkok.

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Bangkok's Don Muang airport shut down as floodwaters surged into the Thai capital, forcing authorities into “crisis mode”.

On the bright side:

The Thai Cabinet ordered & declared a five-day public holiday for Bangkok and 20 other provinces from today in preparation for the kingdom's worst flooding in decades. :)