Bangkok: State of disaster declared in all districts due to flooding

Water everywhere. Bangkok city authorities declared a state of disaster in all 50 districts of the capital on Saturday, September 26, due to flooding caused by heavy rains. This declaration, which allows local authorities to take emergency measures, comes as nearly 300 millimeters of rain have fallen in the Thai capital since Thursday, according to Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt.

"The water keeps rising. It's difficult to get out now. It's up to my waist," Somkid Pheuk-ngam, a 67-year-old seller who lives near a canal near the center, told AFP. "I can't go anywhere. I closed my shop for two days," she added, saying she hadn't seen such floods in the city for fifteen years.

“The canals are full”

Rain has been falling almost continuously since Thursday afternoon, flooding the roads, swelling Bangkok's canals and seeping into the many buildings that line them. According to the governor, the most affected part is the east of the city. "It continues to rain and we are doing our best. We are trying to pump the water, but the canals are full," he told reporters.

He encouraged patients bedridden at home and dependent on vital medical equipment to consider a temporary stay in hospital. In 2011, major floods across Thailand killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.