Floodwaters close in on centre of Bangkok

FLOODWATER encircled two industrial estates in the east of Bangkok yesterday and closed in on the centre of the capital, disrupting bus services, although mass transit train systems were still running and commercial districts remained dry.

Starting in the north and north-east of the country in late July, the water has flowed slowly south, overwhelming industrial provinces and rice areas in the centre before moving into Bangkok over the past three weeks.

It is now only about 7km from the Silom business and entertainment district at the heart of Bangkok.

Somkid Tanwatanakul, deputy governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), told Reuters floodwater had reached the vicinity of the Lat Krabang Industrial Estate in the east of the city and was now about 1.5 metres high: “We have strengthened dikes around the estate to 2.6 metres high. My worry is, if this much water continues to hold for a long time with nowhere to go, the estate might not make it.”

The estate has 254 factories with almost 50,000 workers. Consumer goods giant Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Isuzu and Honda all have plants there.

It is about 10km north of Bangkok’s main Suvarnabhumi airport, which is functioning normally inside a reinforced dike at least 3 metres high.

Honda, which was only just recovering from Japan’s earthquake in March, has suffered more than most. It withdrew its earnings forecasts on October 31 after it was forced to close its car assembly plant in Ayutthaya.

It also closed its Thai Honda Manufacturing plant last month at Lat Krabang, which produces motorcycles and power products, and decided to extend that suspension on Friday.

Bang Chan, another estate north of Suvarnabhumi airport, is also threatened. With 93 factories and about 13,000 workers, it is home to food firms such as Nestle.

Filthy water has flooded into the streets of the estate through a canal and drains but factory compounds are dry. Floodwater has started to recede in Ayutthaya province but at the same time the danger is rising in Bangkok.

The government’s flood crisis centre said residents of 11 of Bangkok’s 50 districts had been told to leave and in another seven, a partial evacuation had been called.

However, it said its use of so-called Big Bags — huge sandbags weighing 2.5 tonnes — to build a protective wall 18 km long across the north of the city appeared to have been successful in reducing flows into the inner city along the first 6km constructed. Twenty five of the country’s 77 provinces are affected.