Canals full, roads submerged as Bangkok declares flood disaster - EWN

THAILAND - Bangkok authorities declared a flood disaster across the Thai capital on Saturday after almost 48 hours of heavy rain left canals full, roads submerged and residents wading through deep water.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt urged people to stay home after almost 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) of rain fell, while Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he was cutting short a trip to London to return.

"The water keeps coming in. It's hard to go out now. It's like at my waist level now," said Somkid Pheuk-ngam, 67, a vendor who lives near a canal just north of central Bangkok.

"I cannot go anywhere. I have been closing my shop for two days now," she told AFP, adding that while she often gets flooded, "I think this time is worse than the 2011 flood."

Widespread deluges across Thailand in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.

Chadchart said mid-afternoon on Saturday that the situation had "stabilised", adding: "If more rainwater doesn't fall in the area, it will be solved."

"If the rain stops, it is expected that it will take 2-3 days to drain the floodwater," he said in an update broadcast on social media.