‘Worst’ Thai floods kill 224,threaten Bangkok

Two months of flooding have inundated 58 of 77 provinces,with 25 still severely affected.

Thailand’s worst monsoon floods in decades have killed 224 people and affected three quarters of the country,including part of the ancient city of Ayutthaya,officials said today.

Authorities were meanwhile battling to stop the floods reaching the centre of low-lying Bangkok,as forecasters warned of more wild weather to come.

It’s the worst flooding yet in terms of the amount of water and people affected,” said an official at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation who preferred not to be named.

Two months of flooding have inundated 58 of 77 provinces,with 25 still severely affected and damaged the homes or livelihoods of millions of people,according to the government.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram,one of Ayutthaya’s best-known temples,has been closed to visitors after a makeshift dyke was breached at the former capital,a popular tourist destination north of Bangkok.

The water level inside the temple grounds is now 1.50 metres (five feet),” said Supoj Prommanoch,head of the Fine Arts Office in Ayutthaya.

He said 10 other temples were also flooded but the authorities were confident they could prevent the waters from reaching Ayutthaya’s main World Heritage Park,which is located further away from Chao Phraya River.

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The northern city of Chiang Mai,another popular tourist destination,has also been badly hit.

The current flood situation is the worst that I have ever seen and it will last until the first week of November,” said independent flood expert Royal Chitradon,director of Thai Integrated Water Resource Management.