Bangkok flood threat may ease by early next month

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-xF_2aqrX0

Oct 24, 2011
AP

BANGKOK - The threat that floodwaters will inundate Thailand's capital could ease by early next month as record-high levels in the river carrying torrents of water downstream from the country's north begin to decline, the authorities said yesterday.

The relatively rosy longer-term projection from the Flood Relief Operations Centre came just a day after reports that Bangkok's main Chao Phraya River was overflowing its banks and at its highest levels in seven years.

People should not be too concerned because the spillover could be drained, said the centre's chief, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok, in a televised news conference.

In Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, a two-metre crocodile was captured while resting on dry land outside a restaurant, presumably after pulling itself out of the surrounding floodwaters. Unconfirmed recent reports have claimed up to 100 crocodiles may have escaped from farms in the region.The desperate battle to route the water away from the city has led to several conflicts in which people have used force to try to protect their own neighbourhoods by removing flood barriers.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said yesterday one crew of city workers was unable to carry out reinforcement of one barrier because of "a group of people opposing the mission and harassing'' them.

In evident response, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she had delegated high-ranking police officers to protect workers carrying out anti-flood duties.

Meanwhile, state television in neighbouring Myanmar reported yesterday that heavy rains and flash floods have killed 106 since last week while Cambodia has seen more than 240 people killed from flooding.