Thai
floodwaters spilled into northern Bangkok today after armed men stopped workers
from building a sandbag levee and a water gate broke, elevating concerns the
deluge will spread to inner parts of the capital.
Water surged onto a major street near
Bangkok’s northern border, inundating passenger cars and a hospital, according
to images broadcast on military-owned Channel 5 television station. Bangkok
Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra last night warned residents of six northern districts
to move belongings to higher ground as the water approached.
“There is a huge amount of water coming into
Bangkok,” Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters today. “From the
models, there will be low-level areas that will be flooded. There is some
difficulty in diverting the water into the sea.”
The levees protecting Bangkok, which sits on a
river basin the size of Florida that drains into the Gulf of Thailand, have
slowed the dispersal of floodwaters that have swamped farmland and forced Honda
Motor Co. and Canon Inc. to shut factories. The deluge has spurred tensions
between residents in areas north of the capital who want the water drained
quickly to the gulf, and Bangkok inhabitants aiming to protect the city.
‘Move’
Yingluck blamed a "technical
problem" for the malfunctioning of a water gate on the city’s edge and
ordered Irrigation Department officials to fix it quickly. She urged state
agencies and companies to close offices to help alleviate traffic congestion.
“If you have a choice to move to other
provinces, you should do it,” Yingluck said.
Flooding in the districts, which represent
about 10 percent of Bangkok’s land area, “is very imminent and inevitable,” the
governor said in a statement issued late last night. He urged the young, old
and ill to evacuate to city shelters and for others to move belongings to
higher ground.
The six districts immediately at risk are Don
Mueang, Lak Si, Bang Khen, Chatujak, Bang Sue and Sai Mai, Sukhumbhand said.
Chatujak is home to the city’s biggest weekend market, one of two places where
the elevated train line intersects with the subway. Estimates of Bangkok’s
total population vary, with the U.S. State Department putting the figure at 9.7
million.
‘Men With Weapons’
Two nights ago, “a few men with weapons” from
areas north of the city where floodwaters are as high as three meters (10 feet)
confronted Bangkok officials building a sandbag levee at a low-lying junction,
spokesman Jate Sopitpongstorn said by phone today. The men destroyed the
barrier, he said, allowing the water to flow from Pathum Thani province into
Bangkok.
Outside the city’s center, more than 100,000
people are living in about 1,700 government evacuation centers, which can
handle as many as 800,000 people. Toxic water was found in Pathum Thani, the
government said.
Conflicting official warnings about the
severity of the three-month-old crisis sparked panic buying of water and food
in the capital, and banks and hotels have built walls of sandbags to guard
against the deluge.
Nirut Hongprasith, head of the Royal Thai
Navy’s Hydrographic Department, told reporters yesterday that “Bangkok will
definitely be safe.”
Hours earlier, Yingluck said floodwaters
throughout the capital may reach more than one meter and expressed concern
about water levels in Saen Saeb canal, which runs close to shopping districts
such as Central World and Sukhumvit Road.
Apple, Toyota Disruptions
The government will consider providing a “soft
loan” of about 25 billion baht to help repair damage and rebuild infrastructure
at seven industrial estates that have been shut down by flooding, Deputy Prime
Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong told reporters today. Army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha
over the weekend ordered soldiers to strengthen levies around two industrial
estates in Eastern Bangkok that are home to factories operated by Honda Motor
Co., Unilever and Cadbury Plc.
Companies including Apple Inc. and Toyota
Motor Corp. are facing the worst supply disruptions since the March earthquake
that struck Japan. Thailand makes about a quarter of the world’s hard-disk
drives and serves as a production hub for Japanese carmakers and electronics
firms.
“The rising flood waters have hurt all
Japanese auto manufacturers and many electronics firms, either directly at
flooded plants or via affected parts suppliers,” Moody’s Investors Service said
in a report today, adding that it’s “credit negative.” The floods will cost
Thailand 2 percent of its gross domestic product this year, it said.
Rate Cut Possible
Thailand’s central bank, which left the
benchmark interest rate unchanged last week at 3.50 percent, signaled Oct. 20
it may consider cutting rates as the disaster threatens to slow growth. The
benchmark SET Index fell 4.1 percent last week. The exchange is closed today
for a holiday.
The damage caused by the floods cost as much
as 120 billion baht ($3.9 billion), Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn
Trairatvorakul said Oct. 14. Barclays Capital cut its forecast for Thai
economic growth this year to 2.9 percent from 3.7 percent because of flood-related
losses, it said in a report. Official data last week showed exports rose 19.1
percent in September from a year earlier, the least since June.
Thailand may lose 6 million metric tons of
unmilled rice as floods damage key plantation areas, Apichart Jongskul,
secretary-general of the Office of Agricultural Economics, said in a phone
interview Oct. 21. Communities in parts of Southeast Asia face “serious food
shortages,” the United Nations said in a report.
Food Runs
Residents in the capital are stocking up on
water, canned food and instant noodles even as downtown shopping malls remained
filled with people. Yingluck has vowed to protect the city’s airports, power
plants and major transport routes from floodwaters sitting north of Bangkok
that she said may take six weeks to drain through the city’s 1,682 canals.
Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok’s main international
airport, was operating normally. The city will experience a high tide from Oct.
28 to Oct. 30, Yingluck said. Sukhumbhand on Oct. 22 warned 27 communities
along the Chao Phraya river to head to government shelters after water levels
unexpectedly rose at the weekend before stabilizing.
Elsewhere in Bangkok, major hotels in downtown
areas Silom, Sukhumvit and Sathon were operating normally, even as they took
precautions. Sandbags were piled near office buildings and hotels, including
the St. Regis owned by Minor International Pcl, the nation’s biggest hotel
operator.
--With assistance from Anuchit Nguyen and Tony
Jordan in Bangkok. Editors: John Brinsley, Patrick Harrington
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel
Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok
at ssuwannakij@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this
story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment