Bangkok residents have been warned to prepare for flooding after a breach in a barrier protecting the city.
Bangkok's governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, warned people living in seven districts in the outer-north and east to move their belongings to higher ground and study the city's evacuation plan.
He also warned them to unplug electrical appliances.
It is expected that people should have 24 hours to prepare.
The new warnings follow declarations by the national government on the weekend that Bangkok should be safe, which has now created some political division between the Democrat governor and the Pheu Thai government.
Prime minister Yingluck Shinwatra, reportedly teary-eyed, has told reporters that politics must be shelved in favour of morale and cooperation.
"Today I will frankly tell you the truth. I have left no stone unturned in this crisis but I cannot solve it alone. I need cooperation from all sides," Ms Yingluck said on Wednesday.
"Let's set aside politics. We must work to restore people's morale."
Ms Yingluck, a political novice who has been in office for barely two months, has been criticised for a lack of clear information on the disaster, which has killed more than 300 people around the country.
She also faces a dilemma over whether to block the floods to protect Bangkok, the country's economic and political heartland, or release more water upriver to ease the burden on hard-hit central areas.
The opposition Democrats are calling on the government to declare emergency rule, as they themselves did when in power to deal with political unrest in the capital last year, leaving dozens dead in a military crackdown.
"The situation is getting worse and seems to be out of control because people have panicked and destroyed dykes, so if government imposes emergency law it would help control people," Democrat spokesman Sakoltee Pattiyakul said.
The laws would give the authorities the power to forcibly evacuate people or ban them from certain roads or other places.
Three months of heavy monsoon rains have damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions of people, mostly in northern and central Thailand, and have forced tens of thousands to seek refuge in shelters.
Currently about one third of Thailand's provinces are affected by the floods, which are several metres deep in places.
An adviser to the country's National Disaster Warning Centre, Admiral Kohlak Charoenruk, says the floods should be allowed to flow through Bangkok.
"If government keeps blocking water it will cause epidemic diseases and a humanitarian disaster. The government needs to release water into the sea as soon as possible," he said.
Situazione allarmante in Thailandia... da Luglio
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Originariamente Scritto da giorgiorox
