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Published on October 23, 2007

The most critical areas are located along the Chao Phya River on both the Phra Nakhon and Thonburi sides. The other vulnerable areas are in low-lying districts of Wang Thonland and Bang Kapi in eastern Bangkok.

Bannasophit said the embankment walls along the river were capable of holding water at a height of 2.5 metres above sea level, while the peak tide was expected to reach 1.9 metres on October 28. The highest tide yesterday reached 1.75 metres at 4.30pm.

Responding to reports from the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute warning that Bangkok could become inundated due to global warming, Bannasophit said such a forecast could not be proved, but she conceded that floodwater levels had increased by two to three centimetres each year over the past decade.

She said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administra-tion (BMA) would soon conduct a survey of the geological situation of the capital and nearby provinces. The BMA has not yet studied a proposal that embankment walls be built around Bangkok to protect it from flooding.

In Angthong, which borders the Chao Phya River, riverside residents have been advised to prepare for emergency evacuation, after sections of a flood prevention wall in Muang district collapsed late last night.

Phadol Chaiyarak, a local politician, said he learned that the walls had been destroyed by local teenagers hired by gamblers from outside the area. He did not mention the motive of the gamblers and did not identify them.

In Surat Thani in the South, floodwater levels in Phra Saeng district reached 1.5 metres. Residents of two-storey houses in Tambon Ipan remained in their homes while those living in one-storey houses had to be evacuated. 

In Nakhon Ratchasima's Non Soong district, 36 crocodiles were reported to be on the loose after floods inundated a crocodile farm. A total of 3,463 people have sought hospital treatment for flood-borne diseases including diarrhoea and "pink eye".

The provincial disaster prevention office said the cost of the damage caused by the floods had reached Bt1.5 billion and more than 109,000 people in 727 villages in all 26 districts had been affected, with two deaths reported. More than 277,000 rai of farmland had been flooded and 217 roads and five bridges had been rendered impassable.

The Nation