Deluge triggers Bangkok 'disaster'

Bangkok authorities declared a flood disaster across the Thai capital on Saturday after almost 48 hours of heavy rain left homes, shops and roads waterlogged and residents wading through waist-deep water. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cut short a trip to London to return home after more than 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) of rain fell in some areas between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning, according to officials. "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. Bangkok is no stranger to wet weather, and September is the peak of the rainy season, but several residents said it felt worse than usual. "I feel like in all the many years I've lived here, I've never encountered anything like this, where it rains continuously for days," said 63-year-old resident Anutin Meechamnan. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) declared a disaster for all the city's 50 districts, a move that gives local organisations special powers to act. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Saturday afternoon 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 two to three days to drain the floodwater," he said in an update broadcast on social media. Temporary shelters Almost continuous rain since Thursday afternoon has swelled Bangkok's network of canals, sending murky water into surrounding homes, restaurants, shops and alleyways. "Our problem is that the canals are full," Chadchart said. "We are cooperating with nearby provinces and try to drain water out through other sides, minimising the amount that flows into Bangkok." Once dubbed the "Venice of the East", Bangkok is built on former marshland and rests about 1.5 metres (five feet) above sea level. The BMA said earlier the city's pumping stations were operating at full capacity, drawing some 1,200 cubic metres per second combined. AFP reporters saw residents wading or pushing their motorcycles through high waters in several districts of eastern Bangkok, while parked cars were partially submerged on one major road. AFP