Bangkok
\nBangkok\u2019s governor on Saturday declared Thailand\u2019s capital city a disaster-affected zone after torrential rain led to widespread flooding, while the weather agency forecast thunderstorms \u200bover the weekend.
\nMajor roads were flooded with cars partly submerged and \u200bpeople were forced to wade through waist-height water after nearly \u2060300mm (12 inches) of rain fell within 48 hours.
\nBangkok Governor Chadchart \u200bSittipunt said the crisis \u201cposes a risk to people\u2019s lives\u201d and could damage \u200bpublic and private property, and that the situation was most severe near canals.
\nThe army said it is setting up shelters and field kitchens among other disaster relief efforts, \u200bwhile the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has designated schools as temporary accommodation \u200band asked residents to avoid unnecessary travel.
\nSupermarkets were crowded with people stocking up on \u200csupplies.
\n\u201cI\u2019m \u2060worried too, because I haven\u2019t stocked up on food beforehand, and I\u2019ve never faced this kind of situation alone before, since my parents aren\u2019t with me,\u201d said 19-year-old Sansuk Laowatcharakul.
\nThe government on Saturday issued an emergency \u200badvisory for people living \u200bnear canals \u2060to move possessions to higher ground.
\nBefore the warning, \u201cI wasn\u2019t aware enough to consider relocating,\u201d said Bangkok resident Suppakarn \u200bJulavijitphong as he carried luggage from a condo surrounded \u200bby floodwater.
\nThe \u2060city\u2019s main airport, Suvarnabhumi, was operating normally though the tourism authority advised travellers to allow an extra two to three hours in their plans.
\nThailand experienced \u2060its worst \u200bfloods in decades in November when at \u200bleast 145 people died and thousands of homes were damaged in the southern provinces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bangkok Bangkok\u2019s governor on Saturday declared Thailand\u2019s capital city a disaster-affected zone after torrential rain led to widespread flooding, while the weather agency forecast thunderstorms \u200bover the weekend. Major roads were flooded with cars partly submerged and \u200bpeople were forced to wade through waist-height water after nearly \u2060300mm (12 inches) of rain fell within 48 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n