Bangkok declares disaster across all 50 districts as flooding worsens

Bangkok authorities declared a disaster across all 50 districts of the Thai capital on Saturday, September 26, after three consecutive days of heavy rain caused widespread flooding.

The designation gives local organisations additional authority to take action. It came after Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said nearly 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen since Thursday afternoon.

“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 frequently experiences flooding: “I think this time is worse than the 2011 flood.”

Thailand's nationwide floods in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.

Rain has fallen almost continuously since Thursday afternoon, flooding roads and causing Bangkok's canals to swell, with water entering homes and restaurants along the waterways, AFP reporters observed.

“I woke up to go to work, and the street in front of my house was flooded,” said motorbike rider Samruay Nakkamnueng in the Ari neighbourhood.

“I worried if my motorbike would be able to wade through floodwater this much.”

In the On Nut neighbourhood southeast of central Bangkok, AFP reporters saw residents wading through knee-deep floodwater and filling sandbags to take home.

Chadchart said eastern Bangkok had been hardest hit and warned that more rain was forecast.

“The rain keeps falling, and we are doing our best. We are trying to pump the water out, but the water in the canals is full,” he said on social media.

“The risk areas are those who live near canals. Every canal is now filled.”

The governor urged bedridden patients dependent on life-saving medical equipment to consider staying temporarily in hospital. He also advised residents to move their vehicles to higher ground.

Bangkok's public transport authority has offered free access to MRT train park-and-ride car parks, allowing residents to store their vehicles there until October 2.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation warned that low pressure would persist across eastern, northeastern and central Thailand until Sunday. It said the conditions posed a risk of flash floods, forest runoff, mudslides and river overflow.

By Tamilla Hasanova