Floods threaten Bangkok; scores killed in Myanmar

Thailand battled to protect the capital Bangkok from being swamped by water on Friday, with canals full to the brim after devastating floods across the region that sources in neighbouring Myanmar said had killed at least 100 people there. After trying to hold the line for a week, the Thai government opened some canals on Thursday to allow water to run through the inner city, carrying the risk of inundating some districts but relieving pressure on dikes.
At least 100 bodies had been found in the low-lying parts of central Myanmar along the Irrawaddy River, with at least 100 more missing after floods and torrential rains since Wednesday, according to a reliable source in Pakokku, about 450 km (280 miles) north of the biggest city, Yangon.
The source requested anonymity and cited information provided by a local administration official. Residents contacted by Reuters in Monywa and Kyaukse towns said there was damage to property and crops, but could not confirm casualties. Government officials in the secretive country were not available for comment and state-controlled media made no mention of the rains and floods.
The floods have also killed at least 247 in Cambodia and displaced tens of thousands of people. The floods are the worst in Thailand in five decades and have killed at least 342 people since July and devastated industrialised areas to the north of Bangkok. The crisis is the first real test for politically inexperienced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose government has had to form uneasy alliances with the military and political rivals to co-ordinate the relief effort.
The 44-year-old former businesswoman is resisting calls to declare a state of emergency, saying authorities are able to manage. Thousands of people in northern parts of Bangkok were moving valuables and electrical equipment to higher floors while evacuees pitched tents in the city's Don Muang airport. In the fringe provinces of Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi, residents packed into boats, some carrying the elderly on their shoulders.