BANGKOK. Thailand - Thailand's worst floods in half a century have killed 381 people since July. The death toll rose overnight when a boat carrying a family of four capsized in strong winds, drowning the father, mother and eldest son in three-meter-deep floodwater. Their six-year-old daughter, the only one wearing a life vest, survived.
The floods wiped out a quarter of the main rice crop in the world's biggest exporter, forced up global prices of computer hard drives and caused delays in global auto production after destroying industrial estates.- In Bangkok, prices of eggs have quadrupled as jittery residents stockpile staples, but the government said flood victims would have enough bottled drinking
water, dairy products, pork and chicken. - Cash was also in heavy demand. The Bank of Thailand has repeated that there is enough money circulating to meet demand for three months following a crush of withdrawals. Nearly 400 bank branches have closed across the country due to the floods.
- The floods have submerged 1.6 million hectares of land, an area roughly the size of Kuwait, turning entire cities into urban reservoirs.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the ebbing of floodwaters in northern provinces, thanks to the draining of water into the Gulf of Thailand through canals and pumps, had reduced the risk of large volumes of run-off water bearing down on Bangkok. The city sits only 2 metres above sea level."In this critical situation, there is some good news for us. Our water-management plan went smoothly during previous days," Yingluck said.
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