Bangkok woke up under water this Saturday, as authorities declared a disaster across all 50 districts of the Thai capital following three straight days of relentless rain disrupting transport and forcing residents to evacuate. The central and eastern parts of the city were the hardest hit, where water blocked roads and brought traffic to a halt.
Governor Chadchart Sittipunt signed off on the expanded declaration — it started out covering just three districts, Nong Chok, Suan Luang and Khan Na Yao, before spreading citywide as the situation worsened through the morning. Nearly 300 millimetres of rain, has fallen since Thursday afternoon.
By mid-morning, Thailand’s disaster agency had pushed out an emergency cell broadcast, warning residents that canal water levels had hit critical points and were still climbing. People living near canals were told to shift their belongings — and their cars — to higher ground immediately. Reports mentioned major canals had filled more than 20 centimeters of rainfall. Downpours continued in the city throughout Friday, visuals from Saturday showed flooded roads and abandoned cars.
Thailand’s Meteorological Department warned that heavy rain in most regions of the country would continue until Sunday. The agency attributed the bad weather to a strong low-pressure area over the central part of the country and the strengthening of the southwest monsoon.
As of Saturday, more than 84,000 people have been affected in 21 provinces primarily in the central region. Emergency messages were sent across the city in affected areas.
One longtime resident near a canal north of the city center told reporters she’s been forced to shut her shop for two days straight, and that this flood already feels worse than the catastrophic 2011 disaster, which killed over 500 people nationwide.
The disaster declaration hands local authorities the power to move fast: setting up emergency shelters in municipal schools, accelerating pump-out drainage work, and prioritising evacuation for bedridden patients and other vulnerable residents across the capital.