BANGKOK, Thailand – Catastrophic monsoon flooding has plunged large swathes of Thailand into crisis, with Bangkok’s governor declaring all 50 districts a disaster zone and entire communities in the northeast cut off as runoff from the Phanom Dong Rak mountains swamped roads and farmland.

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Satellite telemetry analysed by GISTDA shows dense, rapidly expanding pools of high-risk water spreading across the low-lying basins of Surin, Si Sa Ket and Buriram, where mountain runoff from the Khao Tabaek reservation has overwhelmed local streams and pushed millions of cubic metres of mud-laden water onto key roads. In Mueang Buriram, drainage systems have buckled under a cloudburst that dumped exceptional rainfall in a compressed window, triggering flash floods across civic corridors.

Sa Kaeo province is in an equally critical state, with the Thai Meteorological Department keeping its maximum Heavy Rain and Flash Flood Crisis Advisory in force through at least 27 September. In Ban Tha Ten, water has reached roughly four metres in low-lying pockets, swallowing ground floors and forcing families onto rooftops, while flash flooding submerged commercial streets in Sa Kaeo town after a 211mm downpour overwhelmed drainage. Police have blocked low-lying municipal roads and urged commuters to avoid the centre entirely.

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In Bangkok, Bang Kapi’s transport hubs, commercial intersections and residential communities have ground to a halt. The crisis follows a relentless 48-hour cloudburst that prompted Governor Chadchart Sittipunt to declare all 50 districts a flood disaster zone on Saturday afternoon, 26 September. A stall-locked low-pressure system combined with a powerful southwest monsoon has dumped nearly 300 millimetres of rain on the capital since Thursday, leaving standing water 40 to 60 centimetres deep at the main intersection and trapping buses, delivery trucks and dozens of private cars whose drivers tried to push through.

-Thailand News (TN)