Flood threatens Bangkok

STORY: Floodwaters continued to threaten Bangkok on Wednesday (October 19) as residents living in Pathum Thani, directly north of the Thai capital, raced to strengthen flood defences.
The worst floods in half a century that have swamped the north, northeast and centre of the country have killed at least 315 people since July, and damaged large areas of farmland in the world's top exporter of rice.
Traffic was affected as the main road leading to the north of Bangkok was inaccessible, due to rising floodwaters.
Water has inundated the bank of Rangsit canal, a strategic flow of water located about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Bangkok border, used to divert water into the Chao Phraya River and the Gulf of Thailand.
Monsoon rain, high tides and water flowing from reservoirs in northern Thailand had threatened the capital at the weekend but its defensive system of dikes and canals held.
Thailand's economy will probably shrink 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the finance minister said on Tuesday (October 18) in the clearest indication yet of the disaster's economic toll.