Thousands flee Bangkok as floodwaters threaten

Associated Press

BANGKOK

Tens of thousands of Bangkok residents jammed bus stations and highways Wednesday to flee Thailand’s flood-threatened capital as the city’s governor ordered official evacuations in two swamped northern districts for the first time since the crisis began.

Floodwaters bearing down on the metropolis have killed 373 people nationwide since July, causing billions of dollars in damage and shutting down Bangkok’s second-largest airport.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government had vowed repeatedly to protect the capital, which has so far mostly escaped unscathed. But official assessments have turned grim in recent days, and everywhere people are preparing for flooding that seems all but inevitable.

Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra said residents of two of the city’s 50 districts — Don Muang and Bang Phlat, both already partially submerged — should leave for safer city shelters.

“This is the first time I am using the term ‘evacuation,’ the first time I’m really asking you to leave,” Sukhumbhand said.

Elsewhere in the city, thousands of people packed Bangkok’s Mo Chit bus terminal, trying to leave town on their own. Many appeared to be taking advantage of a government- declared five-day public holiday to avoid a possible watery siege.