Major airport may be flooded as Bangkok hit
One of Bangkok’s two main airports, Don Muang Airport, has been reached by severe flood waters, forcing the flood relief operation command to consider relocating.
The airport in the Thai capital has been a command centre of the coordination of flood relief efforts as the city is affected by the nation’s worst floods in decades.
Some 356 people have been killed nationally, with 9 million affected. To prevent a major disaster, the government has been forced to open flood gates to relieve pressure on dams and levees around Bangkok.
The city is therefore being subjected to coordinated flooding intended to minimise damage and danger to heavily populated areas of the city.
Local Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra warned residents of Don Muang and five other areas of the city to prepare for floods by moving their belongings to upper floors and taking shelter at evacuation centers.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in an interview with CNN, stressed that protecting Bangkok was a priority because of its role as the heart of the national economy.
“But it doesn’t mean we have no concern for the people who are suffering from the flooding,” she said. Shinawatra has undertaken a number of tours of affected areas in other parts of the country.
Thailand’s Flood Relief Operations Command has set up more than 1,700 shelters nationwide.
The government has called the flooding the worst in half a century and warned some areas might require more than a month before waters recede.
Overall damage from the floods could top US $2 billion, the Thai Finance Ministry said, adding that the overall cost was likely to rise as the full impact of factory closures becomes apparent.
Source: Thailand News.Net
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