Bangkok floodwaters threaten Thailand's economy
(Read article summary)As the most severe floodwaters in decades threaten to drown Bangkok's most famous market, observers worry that Thailand’s economy will also suffer.
Bangkok
All across Bangkok – which satellite images show to be a virtual island surrounded by the country’s worst floods in decades – shops are running out of drinking water and nonperishable food as 10 million residents stock-up amid reports of a pending citywide deluge.
And as the city attempts to divert waters in an effort to minimize damages to Thailand's economic hub of Bangkok, Tinnakorn Rujinarong oversees workmen banging together a yard-high barrier meant to keep the floodwaters out of one of the world's biggest flea-markets and one of Thailand's best-known attractions.
Most weekends some 200,000 people sweat and haggle their way through the sauna-like narrow alleys running between Chatuchak Market's 10,000 shops. “Around 100 million baht is spent here every weekend,” says Mr. Tinnakorn, who is the market's deputy director.
IN PICTURES: Thailand's worst flooding in 50 years
As floodwaters threaten to drown the market, observers worry that Thailand’s economy will also suffer.
Barclays Capital estimates that the floods will shave almost 1 percent off Thailand's economic growth for 2011. Bangkok City Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra told TV viewers last night that six additional city districts, including Chatuchak, should prepare to evacuate.
