Deadly Floods Submerge Bangkok and Myanmar as Storms Stall
Severe flooding has submerged swathes of Bangkok and triggered fatal landslides in Myanmar, leaving at least 16 people dead and tens of thousands stranded across both nations.
Torrential monsoon downpours and an intense low-pressure system have submerged large areas of Bangkok and triggered deadly landslides in southern Myanmar, claiming at least 16 lives across both nations.
Authorities in Thailand declared a disaster zone across the capital over the weekend after roughly 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) of rain battered the metropolis in 48 hours, swamping main roads and overfilling the city’s drainage network. According to My Republica, more than 80,000 Bangkok residents were trapped inside waterlogged homes, leading officials to shutter schools and ask private and public sector employees to work remotely.
To ease gridlock on flooded transit corridors, Thailand's cabinet designated September 28 and 29 as emergency public holidays for civil servants in Bangkok and three neighboring provinces, The Hindu reported. The paper noted that the administrative suspension could delay an expected court ruling on contested ballots from the country’s February general election, leaving national political decisions temporarily in limbo.
Bangkok’s municipal government placed all 50 of the capital’s districts under disaster status, BBC News Nepali reported. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt warned that pumping out the standing water could take up to a week because key urban canals were already overflowing. The capital, established on low-lying marshlands, faced severe blockages in eastern districts where residents were forced to wade through waist-deep water.
The deluge was triggered by a low-pressure cell that moved northwest from the Gulf of Thailand before stalling over the central plains, The Guardian reported. A monitoring station in Prachin Buri, located northeast of Bangkok, logged 213.5 millimetres of precipitation within 24 hours between Friday and Saturday evening before the weather system finally shifted northwest on Sunday, bringing temporary respite to the capital.
Across Thailand, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation confirmed that flooding has hit more than 500,000 households and 1.7 million residents across 27 provinces since mid-September, My Republica reported. Although Bangkok recorded no casualties, eight deaths occurred across three eastern Thai provinces.
The severe weather also struck southern Myanmar, where heavy rains caused fatal landslides in the Tanintharyi region, according to My Republica. Rescuers recovered eight bodies in Launglon township, including three teenagers swept away when a mudslide engulfed a local monastery. Between 20 and 30 people remained missing, with local relief teams warning that Myanmar’s ongoing civil conflict and severe resource deficits were severely hindering search and rescue missions.