Thailand flood death toll: 500 and Still Rising

Thailand flood death toll: 500 and Still Rising

Bangkok — The current flooding in Thailand has gone worse after the death toll climbed to more than 500 as of Sunday. It is indeed the worst flooding in Thailand for half a century. New coordinated evacuations were conducted in Bangkok, the nation’s capital, as the polluted and black water is now advancing towards the city’s subway system.

The government has ordered the evacuation of people in the district of Chatuchak, a major tourist attraction, where an outdoor shopping zone and a public park were all located. The famous Weekend Market in Chatuchak was open Sunday but only few customers and vendors were present as the black floodwaters now on the eastern edge of the market.

Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Bangkok Governor, has ordered the evacuations of people in Bangkok’s 11 districts out of a total of 50 while partial evacuations in 7 other districts were also underway. However, the evacuations conducted by the government are not mandatory and many people opted to stay in their homes and business establishments in order to protect their assets and properties. The flooding illustrates the limitation of the government and how far it was gone in devastating the nation and the capital Bangkok. The central business district of Bangkok which sits a few miles away from Chatucak is still dry.

Posted by James Fried on Monday November 07 2011, 2:01 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0