Bangkok authorities declared a flood disaster across all 50 districts of the Thai capital on Saturday, after nearly 48 hours of relentless rain left homes, shops and roads submerged and forced residents to wade through deep water. The declaration came as officials recorded almost 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) of rainfall between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning, prompting Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to cut short a trip to London and return home, reports WION News.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s disaster declaration allows local authorities to implement special measures to tackle the flooding, which has disrupted daily life across the city.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Saturday afternoon that the situation had “stabilised”, adding that floodwater could take two to three days to drain provided no further rain fell. “If more rainwater doesn’t fall in the area, it will be solved,” he said in an update posted on social media, reiterating that clearance would take two to three days “if the rain stops”.
With residents rushing to stock up on essential supplies, some convenience stores were left with empty shelves by lunchtime, AFP reported. Chadchart said at least 13 major roads had been flooded, but urged calm over fears of food shortages. “The public don’t have to panic,” he said.
According to the governor, around 980 people were being housed in temporary shelters, while 36 bedridden residents had been moved to hospitals. The city has also stockpiled one million sandbags as part of its flood response.
The rainfall has been exceptional even by Bangkok’s standards: the city recorded 487 mm of rain between 1 and 25 September, well above the average of nearly 269 mm for the same period between 1991 and 2020. Scientists have cautioned that such extreme weather events are likely to grow more frequent and severe as global temperatures continue to rise because of fossil fuel emissions.
The flooding has not been confined to the capital. Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported flooding across 21 provinces on Saturday, with one fatality confirmed, and warned that further heavy rain was expected through Sunday.
The current crisis inevitably recalls Thailand’s devastating 2011 floods, which killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes nationwide.
