Bangkok flood defences hold against high tides

(GETTY)

The complex network of flood defences shielding Thailand's capital from the worst floods in nearly 60 years mostly held today as coastal high tides hit their peak. While the city centre was protected, Bangkok's northern outskirts remained inundated along with much of the rest of the country.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said that the floodwaters that have wreaked havoc to provinces north of Bangkok in the last several weeks had started to recede, and she urged citizens to let the crisis take its course.

"We have the good news that the situation in the central region has improved as runoff water gradually decreased," she said. "I thank people and urge them to be more patient in case this weekend is significant because of the high tide."

Fear gripped Bangkok early in the day as tides along the Gulf of Thailand crested at about 9am and pushed the city's main waterway, the Chao Phraya River, to its brink. Waves reached a maximum height of 8.1 feet above sea level — just barely contained by the 8.2-foot flood walls protecting much of the inner city, according to Bangkok Metropolitan Administration official Adisak Kantee.

The tide was short of the expected 8.2 feet predicted by the Thai Navy.

Bangkok remains under threat from coastal high tides set to swell the Chao Praya river early this evening, tomorrow morning and Monday, continuing to put more pressure on the city's dikes and sluices. Still, no major breaches were reported in the defences after this morning's expected peak.

City official Adisak told the Associated Press the city's concrete barriers "are efficiently protecting Bangkok from deluge," though he said smaller, private dikes might yet fail and breach the city center.

"The situation is so far under control," he said.

Overflows so far have lightly inundated riverside streets from Chinatown to the famed Temple of the Emerald Buddha. But the white-walled royal Grand Palace was dry, less than 24 hours after being ringed by ankle-deep water, and the landmark remained open to tourists. Many visitors carried parasols to protect themselves from the blistering sunshine.

Yingluck said in her weekly radio address today that the government had implemented a plan to accelerate the drainage rate and that water in the greater Bangkok area should recede by the first week of November.

Meanwhile, the streets of downtown Bangkok — the country's financial heart — were bone-dry and bustling with taxis, restaurant-goers and tourists snapping pictures. But the city remained in peril, as high tides along the gulf were expected to crest again late in the day, threatening to obstruct the flood runoff from the north. The government also is worried major barriers and dykes could break.

Also today, the government's Flood Relief Operations Center was forced to move its headquarters from its base at Don Muang airport, which is used mostly for domestic flights, to a government building nearby after a power transformer malfunctioned. Authorities were forced to shut down the airport earlier in the week after floodwaters rushed in.

Relief center director Pracha Promnok said the government might extend a five-day public holiday beyond Monday if warranted. The holiday was declared to encourage people to leave the city for safer areas.

Yesterday, saffron-robed monks and soldiers piled sandbags outside the capital's most treasured temples and palaces as the Chao Phraya swelled precariously beyond its banks. Army trucks dumped thousands of sandbags outside the riverside Siriraj Hospital, where Thailand's ailing and revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej has stayed since 2009.

Most of the water receded at low tide, but worried Bangkokians were buying up bright orange lifejackets and inflatable boats, fearing the worst is yet to come.

"You have to prepare," said Fon Kanokporn, a banker who bought a rubber boat from a store that had several hanging from trees out front as advertisements.

Employees at the shop said they had sold well over 3,000 boats in the last week. The brisk business is a measure of the fear gripping Bangkok and a reflection of the tragedy of neighboring provinces that have been submerged for weeks. Several buyers said they needed boats because their submerged homes outside the capital were no longer accessible by road.

Three months of relentless monsoon rains have caused the worst flooding in Thailand in more than half a century, triggering a national crisis that has severely tested Yingluck's government.

The water has crept from the central plains south toward the Gulf of Thailand for weeks, engulfing a third of the country's provinces and killing nearly 400 people and displacing 110,000 more. Now, Bangkok is in the way — surrounded by behemoth pools of water flowing around and through the city via a complex network of canals and rivers.

Seven of Bangkok's 50 districts — all in the northern outskirts — are heavily flooded, and residents have fled aboard bamboo rafts and army trucks and by wading through waist-deep water. Eight other districts have seen less serious flooding. AP