Since Thursday, Bangkok has been drowning in a deluge that saw 330 mm of rain fall over a 48‑hour period, turning the city’s intricate canal system into a tide of water that rose higher than the 2011 catastrophe. Kosin Nilset, a 44‑year‑old office worker whose home sits along the Premprachakorn canal, told AFP that his house sat under water for 30 hours and that the water level exceeded the canal’s retaining wall.
Authorities counted almost 1,000 people inside a temporary shelter at the Kheha Romklao school, while the BMA declared a city‑wide disaster and closed hundreds of schools for Monday.
Thidarat Silsuwan, 56, lives alone in a partially submerged home and has been sleeping on a table for two days, refusing to leave her property to salvage what she can.
Governor Chadchart Sittipunt warned residents on Facebook Live that some roads remained flooded and urged them to avoid unnecessary travel. The BMA said it would accelerate drainage and that rain would ease by Monday, while the prime minister’s office cautioned against panic buying and called price gouging a criminal offence.
Scientists warn that such extreme weather is expected to increase in intensity and frequency as global temperatures rise. The 2011 floods killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes, and officials fear a repeat could devastate Bangkok’s already strained infrastructure.