Thailand calls holiday to allow escape from floods.

Flood in Thailand

(Reuters) - Thailand announced a five-day holiday on Tuesday to give people the chance to escape floods closing in on Bangkok as the prime minister warned that the capital could face an inundation of 1.5 meters (nearly five feet) of water if barriers collapsed.

The cabinet declared October 27-31 a holiday in Bangkok and 20 provinces affected by the country's worst flooding in 50 years as weekend high tides in the Gulf of Thailand could complicate efforts to divert water from the low-lying capital.

Financial markets will remain open.

As water levels climbed, some of those already evacuated were preparing to be evacuated again, with 4,000 people sheltering at a northern Bangkok airport told they would be moved to the eastern province of Chon Buri.

The floods have killed at least 366 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, with more than 113,000 in shelters and 720,000 seeking medical attention.

Authorities are scrambling to pump out water around the east and west of Bangkok but record-high water levels in the Chao Phraya river that winds through the city raise the risk of floods in the commercial heart when the high tides come.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra warned in a televised address that central Bangkok, which authorities have been struggling to protect, could be swamped by up to 1.5 meters (nearly five feet) of water if barriers broke.

She told residents to get their belongings up high and get ready. She said authorities would guard important places such as the royal palace and power stations and do their best to limit damage and pump water out of the city.

Seri Supharatid, director of Rangsit University's Center on Climate Change and Disaster, said the city's fate rested with dikes along the Chao Phraya river.

"In the worst-case scenario, if all the dikes break, all parts of Bangkok would be more or less flooded," Seri said.

The floods have also forced the closure of seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces bordering Bangkok, causing billions of dollars of damage, disrupting supply chains for industry and putting about 650,000 people temporarily out of work.

The cabinet announced a 325 billion baht ($10.6 billion) budget on Tuesday to help rebuild the country, mostly for small and medium-sized enterprises, small vendors and individuals.

"If they get back to normal quickly, it will help push the economy forward," said Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala.

Thirachai last week said growth for this year could be barely 2 percent due to the flooding, down from the central bank's earlier forecast of 4.1 percent.

Heavy rain late on Tuesday, the first in four days, could complicate an already precarious situation and more showers were forecast for Wednesday.

Don Muang Airport, Bangkok's second biggest, closed late on Tuesday due to concerns that passengers and staff might have problems reaching the terminal. It is expected to reopen on November 1.

Airports of Thailand said the main Suvarnabhumi Airport, built on a snake-infested swamp, was not affected because it was on higher ground. However, Thai Airways International Pcl, which operates out of Suvarnabhumi, said it may reduce flights because of staffing concerns.

As water levels rose, there were concerns the Lat Krabang and Bangchan industrial zones in the north and east of Bangkok would be inundated, threatening a total of 344 factories, 49 of which are operated by Japanese firms that include including Honda Motor Co and Isuzu Motors Ltd.

"The situation behind the factory isn't good," Tanapon Karakasikum, an official at an auto components factory at Lat Krabang, told Reuters. "The flood barrier is too low but the operators of the estate are not doing anything."

BANGKOK TENSE

The center instructed residents of the Muang Ake housing estate in northern Bangkok to evacuate on Tuesday after a flood protection wall in nearby Pathum Thani province was breached, adding to tension in the capital, where residents have fortified their homes and stockpiled food and water.

The Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday it would relax import tariffs and regulations on food, water and some consumer goods in short supply as a result of hoarding.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra issued a new flood warning late on Monday for Bang Phlad district, west of the Chao Phraya river and closer to Bangkok's commercial heart.

Bang Phlad is home to department stores, universities and hospitals. Siriraj Hospital, where Thailand's revered king has been for more than two years, is nearby.

Government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisang said the holiday had been called due to the high tides and to give residents the option of leaving Bangkok. Sukhumbhand said the holiday would allow authorities to handle the crisis better.

Authorities opened most canal gates in Bangkok late last week, a high-risk operation taking pressure off defensive walls by diverting water around the east and west of the capital into the sea, but raising the chance of inner-city flooding.

Hundreds of people were evacuated over the weekend as water in Lak Si and Don Muang reached levels as high as two meters (six feet), spilling out of swollen canals and rivers. Several escaped farm-reared crocodiles have been killed or captured in residential areas of Ayutthaya. Snakes have also been a problem.

At least 227 bank branches have been forced to close by floods, most of them in the provinces north of Bangkok.

The central banks of Japan and Thailand said on Tuesday they were looking at a mechanism to offer funds in baht backed by Japanese government bonds to help affected Japanese firms. The Bank of Thailand also said it was discussing similar plans with other countries.

Big Japanese firms such as Toyota Motor Corp, Sony Corp and Nikon Corp have had to close down operations in Thailand.

Fears mount in Bangkok as Thailand flood waters rise

(CNN) -- Thailand's capital was braced for unprecedented flooding Wednesday, amid the monsoon rains that have overwhelmed much of the country as well as Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines in recent weeks.

"It's going to be clearer over the next couple days" whether Bangkok can be spared the brunt of the flooding said Matthew Cochrane, spokesperson for the International Red Cross in Bangkok.

So far, 281 people have been killed and four people are missing in Thailand, according to the country's Flood Relief Operations Command. Some 60 of the country's 76 provinces have so far been affected, impacting some eight million people.

"It's really quite serious, these are the worst floods in Thailand since 1949," Cochrane said.
"These floods started in June really and started to move south and have really caused huge damage the whole way down," Cochrane said. "They've affected hundreds and hundreds of villages and towns, they've wiped out 2.5 million acres of farmland. This is a very, very serious disaster."

Over half a million square kilometers -- an area the size of Spain -- are affected by the floods in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, according to CNN meteorologist Jenny Harrison.

Asia's wet and wild 2011 explained

In Bangkok officials beefed up flood prevention measures as waterways, including the main Chao Phraya River, became bloated by rising water.

"There are walls still being built in the north of the city," Cochrane said Wednesday. "One of the challenges is the areas where flood waters are typically diverted to protect the capital and protect the economic center of the country, those areas are already flooded, so there's potentially not much room for those waters to go."

"For Bangkok we are still confident that the inner part of the city will be safe from (flooding)," said Thitima Chaisaeng, Thailand government spokesperson, but the eastern and western parts of Bangkok face flooding.

On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered canal dredging and reinforcement of flood-prevention embankments to protect the city, state-run news agency MCOT reported. In addition, three new flood-prevention walls were being built at two locations in Rangsit, in northern Bangkok, and in Taling Chan, in the western part of the city.

Tourists warned as floods continue to wreak havoc in Thailand

The government needs another 1.5 million sandbags, MCOT reported. The prime minister called on the private sector to supply them, but said the government will buy all the needed sandbags by Wednesday, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, around 1,200 people have taken shelter in a gymnasium at Bangkok's Thammasat University. Most of them are from neighboring Ayutthaya province and other flood-affected areas around the capital, said Thanawat Srisuwan, a volunteer at the makeshift shelter.

The authorities have set up almost 200 other temporary shelters around the city to receive flood victims. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said plans were in place to evacuate people from nine areas, mainly in eastern Bangkok, if needed.

Elsewhere, patients in two hospitals in Thailand's Ayutthaya and Nakhon Sawan provinces had to be evacuated after water reached the first floor, the flood operations command said.

Multiple tropical weather systems have moved over the region in recent weeks, enhancing monsoon rains and leading to the flooding. Heavy rains are expected in Southeast Asia through the end of October.

According to the government website Thaiflood.com, water from northern Thailand has finally reached lower parts of central Thailand, penetrating dykes in Pathumthani and Nonthaburi provinces and flooding outer areas of Bangkok, including the market in Nonthaburi and Chiang Rang road.

The giant Rojana Industrial Park has halted operations for the time being, director Amara Charoengitwattanagun told MCOT, and the facility may be further damaged if the flooding worsens. One plant in the park, Single Point Parts, evacuated all workers from the premises and built flood prevention embankments around its building.

Honda also confirmed operations at its Rojana plant have been halted. The Japanese automaker says the closure of the plant has already affected the manufacture of 4,500 vehicles.

Meanwhile the UNESCO-listed Ayutthaya historical park, which includes the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, has been submerged since last week, according to local authorities.

"This is the worst flood in our historical site in 16 years," said Somsuda Leeyawanich, from the Thai Fine Arts Department. She said the water level in the park is almost three meters, compared to levels of around 80-90 centimeters during the floods of 1995.

"We are very concerned that if the site is under water more 30 days it may cause serious damage," she added. "The temples are over 400 years old."

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