BANGKOK: Floods engulfing parts of Bangkok should start to recede in the first week of November, the prime minister said Saturday after barriers along the swollen main river prevented a disastrous overflow.
The city of 12 million people was on heightened alert because of a seasonal high tide that was expected to coincide with the arrival of runoff water from the central plains, where people have endured weeks of flood misery.
The rising waters caused minor flooding again in some riverside areas, including around the Grand Palace, but the tide peaked at 2.5 metres (eight feet) above sea level -- lower than feared -- and most of the city remained unaffected.
Residential areas in the northern outskirts of the city, as well as on the western side of the main Chao Phraya river have so far been worst hit, with waist-deep water in places.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who has previously warned the floods could last for weeks, said the authorities had expedited the flow of runoff water from the north through canals in the east and west of the capital.
"If everyone works hard ... then the floodwater in Bangkok will start to recede in the first week of November," Yingluck said in a weekly radio and television address to the nation.
She said the overall flood situation in central parts of Thailand had improved and volumes of water flowing through the Chao Phraya had decreased.
Yingluck's two-month-old administration has faced public criticism for giving confusing advice about the extent of the flood threat.
And in a sign of the ongoing problems in the north of the capital, the government was forced to move its emergency flood relief centre from the city's second airport Don Mueang after rising water led to a power blackout.
Tens of thousands of residents have left Bangkok, with many heading to coastal resorts away from the path of the water, after the government declared a special five-day holiday.
The three-month crisis -- triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains -- has left at least 381 people dead and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods, mostly in northern and central Thailand.
Most of the country's top tourist destinations and the main airport have been unaffected although countries including the United States and Britain have advised against all but essential travel to Bangkok.
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