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Summary Tens of thousands flee Bangkok as officials urge remaining residents to leave.
Thai officials stepped up flood warnings on Saturday urging remaining residents in inundated northern Bangkok to leave for higher ground as unusually high tide threatened to bring more parts of the city under water.In the Sai Mai area, houses and cars were partially filled with water. Water levels were almost a meter (3.3 feet) high in some places.Many residents have left, but some just moved to higher parts of their homes trying to wait out the floods, putting their belongings onto makeshift rafts. But with no signs of water levels falling, those who stayed on were thinking of giving up.Central Bangkok was bracing for high tide which may force the Chao Phraya River to burst its banks and worsen the flood situation.Buildings across Bangkok have been sand-bagged for protection, and some vulnerable streets were nearly deserted.Thailands worst floods in half a century, caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, have killed 377 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.2 million, until now mostly in the north and central provinces.
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