Bangkok floods force thousands into emergency shelters

BANGKOK

AFP Photo

Torrential monsoon rains triggered widespread flooding across Bangkok on Sept. 27, forcing nearly 4,900 residents into emergency shelters and inundating tens of thousands of homes.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration declared a disaster across the capital after floodwaters affected around 52,000 households.

City weather stations recorded more than 330 millimeters of rainfall between Sept. 24 and Sept. 27.

Canal water levels remained critically high on Sunday morning as municipal teams accelerated drainage operations into nearby waterways.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt warned residents in an online broadcast to avoid unnecessary travel, citing dozens of impassable roads.

Sittipunt inspected a temporary shelter inside a school in the eastern Kheha Romklao area, where approximately 1,000 displaced people slept on benches and classroom floors.

City authorities ordered hundreds of schools to remain closed on Sept. 28.

The prime minister's office urged citizens to avoid panic buying and cautioned retailers against illegal price gouging on food and water.

Residents along the suburban Premprachakorn canal described the water levels as higher than those recorded during the devastating 2011 floods.

Those historic deluges across Southeast Asia killed more than 500 people and inundated millions of homes nationwide.

Thailand experiences regular monsoon downpours during its peak rainy season in September, but infrastructure bottlenecks leave low-lying districts vulnerable to chronic inundation.