Efforts ‘failing to protect Thailand’s capital from flooding’

Yingluck Shinawatra said authorities will instead risk potential overflow with a controlled release of water through the capital’s canals. She told reporters every means to slow the water from entering Bangkok had been tried, so at least some must be allowed to drain through the city.

Authorities have been making attempts to keep floodgates closed and boost barriers along waterways carrying a deluge of water downstream from the north. The evident result was massive flooding inundating homes and factories in areas north of the city.

“We must allow the water to flow through. Very little has been driven to the sea,” Ms Yingluck said. Her government has come under sharp criticism for a confusing and inadequate response to the flooding, with began in August with heavy rains in northern Thailand.

By yesterday, the death toll in nationwide flooding had risen to 320, mostly from drowning, with nearly nine million people affected.