Here’s a quick update as of 10 a.m. Bangkok time today, October 16, 2011:
Remember that all past posts — including maps, links to news stories, etc. — can be found by clicking the Thailand flooding tag.
I’m a bit pressed for time, but briefly:
People have written in asking about central Bangkok. What I wrote earlier still holds: Ayutthaya and central Thailand have been hardest hit, and western, northern, and eastern Bangkok are at risk.
Central Bangkok, for the most part, is still dry — from what I’ve seen.
While I’ve noticed that some shops and hotels have erected sandbag defenses here in central Bangkok, I have not seen any major flooding issues for now.
The U.S. embassy in Bangkok has some tips for dealing with the floods.
And their flood information page — especially the maps page — has links to some good resources.
Here are some news reports:
Bloomberg has an overview as of this morning:
Thailand moved to protect the capital, Bangkok, and the main international airport from flood waters as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said 10 provinces are still at “critical risk” after being inundated.
And there’s this, on the affect on Thailand’s industrial estates:
Yingluck said the situation remains “critical” in 10 of the 26 provinces still affected by flooding. Floodwaters have swamped industrial estates in Ayutthaya province, 67 kilometers (42 miles) north of Bangkok, halting production at factories operated by Japanese manufacturers including Nikon Corp. and Pioneer Corp.
And the AP has this story from last night that provides a good summary of what’s up:
Beside a wall of white sandbags that has become a front line in Thailand’s battle to prevent an epic season of monsoon floods from reaching Bangkok, needlefish swim through knee-high water inside Sawat Taengon’s home.
On one side, a cloudy brown river pours through a canal diverting water around the Thai capital, just to the south. On the other side, homes just like his are unscathed. Whether floodwaters breach fortified barriers like these this weekend will decide whether Bangkok will be swamped or spared.
As of late Saturday at least, the alarmed metropolis of glass-walled condominiums and gilded Buddhist temples remained unscathed, and authorities were confident it would narrowly escape disaster.
More soon…