Floods threaten to swamp Bangkok

2011-10-20 29

Bangkok - a city under threat in a country where vast swathes of land are now underwater.
This new aerial footage shows floodwaters inundating the outskirts of the Thai capital and threatening to swamp the city.
About a third of Thailand's provinces are still affected while some industrialized provinces are completely submerged.
So far, Bangkok has escaped the worst of the flooding but it's a desperate race against time.
Here in Sai Mail district, just north of Bangkok, residents and officials are again working around the clock to build flood walls and prepare sandbags.
Residents in seven districts northeast of the capital have been told to prepare for flooding as the volume of water running down from the centre grows.
More than 300 people have been killed since July in the country's worst flooding in five decades.
Sunita Rappai, Reuters