Peak tides test Thai capital's flood defenses

A girl has a drink as she stands near a cyclist in a flooded street outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok October 28, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

Men paddle their makeshift raft through a flooded street in central Bangkok October 29, 2011. Credit: REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Sun Oct 30, 2011
By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat and Robert Birsel

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Peak tides tested Bangkok's flood defenses on Sunday as hope rose the center of the Thai capital might escape the worst floods in decades, but that was little comfort for swamped suburbs and provinces where worry about disease is growing.

The floods have killed at least 381 people since July and affected more than 2 million. Authorities have slashed growth forecasts for Southeast Asia's second biggest economy and disruptions to auto and computer-part producers have been felt worldwide.

Water flowing down the central Chao Phraya river basin from the north is meeting peak tides surging in the Gulf of Thailand, 20 km (12 miles) south of Bangkok, leading to fears the city's makeshift defenses would be swamped.

The tides have pushed water in the river, which snakes its way through the city past gilded temples and wooden shanties, about 2.5 meters (8 feet) above sea level but dikes and sand-bag walls have largely held.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a political novice who took over this year after an election that many Thais hoped would heal chronic political divisions, delivered the first good news in days on Saturday when she said the water bearing down from the north was beginning to recede.

But the danger is far from over and Bangkok's governor issued a new warning on Sunday for people living near the river and by canals to get belongings up high and prepare to get out.

"We will monitor the situation closely and let you know again if we want you to evacuate," Governor Sukhumbhand Paribhatra told reporters.

But it's too late for most people living in Thonburi, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, struggling in waist-deep water to save their possessions.

Large areas of provinces to the north of Bangkok, such as Pathun Thani and Ayutthaya, have been inundated for weeks and fears about water-borne diseases and malaria are growing.

Matthew Cochrane of the International Federation of the Red Cross said the situation was critical.

"There are more than 2 million people who have been affected over the past few months. Many of them are still affected, still flooded outside the city, across the center and the north," Cochrane told Reuters.

"You only have to drive over the Chao Phraya River and you will see people living in waist-high water with no access to drinking water, no access to food, entirely isolated from any other social services," he said.

RICE, COMPUTERS

Thailand's worst floods in half a century have also wiped out a quarter of the main rice crop in the world's biggest rice exporter.

The waters also inundated seven industrial estates that have sprung up over the past couple of decades on what used to be rice-growing land to the north of the capital.

Thailand is the second-largest exporter of computer hard drives and global prices are rising because of a flood-related shortage of major components used in personal computers.

The president of South Korea's Samsung Electronics said he expected Thailand's floods to hit the computer memory chip market further by hurting PC production until the first quarter of next year.

Samsung is the world's top maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which is used widely in PCs.

"There is too much uncertainty in the market ... A disruption in PC production will have a direct impact on DRAM demand. Maybe (the DRAM market) will get worse," Jun Dong-soo, president of Samsung's memory business, told reporters in comments released on Sunday.

Sunday morning's high tide flooded parts of Bangkok's normally bustling Chinatown, and some streets around the glittering Grand Palace.

Buildings across Bangkok have been sand-bagged or walled off for protection. Many people have left their cars on elevated roads, although most of the inner city is dry.

Many others have taken advantage of a special five-day holiday to flee the city. Those left behind have stocked up on water, food, life jackets and even boats.

(Additional reporting by Jason Szep; Editing by Paul Tait)