Thailand's prime minister said Bangkok was fighting the forces of nature on Thursday as residents fled, rivers swelled and floodwater threatened to burst through dikes protecting the capital. The country's worst flooding in half a century, caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, has killed 373 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, until now mostly in the north and central provinces.
But Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a novice politician who only took office in August, told reporters the crisis had now reached a critical point for Bangkok. "It seems like we're fighting against the forces of nature, massive floodwater that is causing damage to several of our dikes," she said. "What we can do now is to manage it, so that it flows slowly, otherwise everybody will suffer."
As Yingluck's voice started to tremble, reporters asked if she was crying. "No, I haven't cried and I won't. I'll be strong to solve this problem for the Thai people. Right now we need to release floodwater to the sea as soon as possible and we need a quick rehabilitation plan," she said.
Traffic in central Bangkok was light on the first day of a five-day holiday, declared by Yingluck's government so people could leave. However, a main road out of the city to the flood-free south was jammed, with an exodus of cars to the seaside town of Hua Hin and the eastern resort city of Pattaya, where hotel rooms and homes to rent were hard to find. "We're heading off to Hua Hin because people said it'll be difficult, we should leave. If it gets worse, we won't come back," resident Pornchai Tangsuwongthai told Reuters TV.
Bangkok, a city of at least 12 million people that accounts for 41 percent of GDP, is in danger from run-off water from the north coinciding with high tides on the Chao Phraya river, which is already at a record high level in places. Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who has said many parts of the capital could be in danger by the weekend, said not all of the city would be hit.