Flooding in Bangkok -2011

Hua Lamphang Railway Station

Democracy Monument

   

Authorities in Bangkok have opened a key floodgate to placate angry residents whose homes have been inundated by floodwaters, but officials fear it could put other parts of the city centre at risk. There were angry scenes at the sluice gate on the Sam Wa canal to the east of the city.Furious residents who live on the outer side of the gate have used sledgehammers to try to break the wall and have clashed with police.They wanted water released to alleviate flooding, which is at chest height in their homes while the city side of the gate remains dry.The national government has agreed to open the gate slightly to release some water but the deputy governor of Bangkok has warned that could once again place 19 districts of central Bangkok at risk that were declared 80 per cent safe on Monday.
He says the released water may overflow a key canal that leads to the city centre.
The three-month crisis - triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains - has left at least 381 people dead around the kingdom and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods, mostly in northern and central Thailand.The crisis has forced the shutdown of thousands of inundated factories, disrupting supply chains and putting more than 500,000 people temporarily out of work.Prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the government had made plans to rehabilitate industrial estates, but that it could take three months to get them up-and-running as normal.*Edited highlights from http://www.abc.net.au