In brief
Bangkok has declared a flood emergency after 48 hours of heavy rain flooded streets and filled canals. Residents are asked to stay home and move belongings to higher floors as traffic chaos ensues. Water levels, higher than during the 2011 floods, have forced shops to close. Officials are pumping out canals but no casualties have been reported yet amid forecasts of continued rain.
Bangkok Faces Unprecedented Flooding After 48‑Hour Downpour
The Thai capital has declared a flood emergency after relentless rain for the past two days left major roads submerged and traffic snarled across the city.
Officials have urged residents to stay indoors and, for those living near the city’s network of canals, to move belongings to upper floors. The city’s drainage system has been overwhelmed, turning familiar streets into waterways.
“The water keeps coming in. It’s hard to go out now. It’s at my waist level,” said Somkid Pheuk‑ngam, a shopkeeper north of the center, noting that the flood is worse than the 2011 nationwide event that killed hundreds. She has shut her shop for two days.
So far no casualties have been reported in Bangkok, but the Thai Meteorological Service warns that heavy rain is expected to continue until Sunday, threatening more canals to burst their banks. Pumping crews are working around the clock, but the risk remains high for residents living close to waterways.
All 50 districts of Bangkok have been declared emergency zones, Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said. He added that the east of the city has been hardest hit and that pumps are doing their best to clear the water.
