Thai PM Hopeful Bangkok Will Fend Off Floods

Thailand's prime minister has said she is hopeful Bangkok will be mostly spared from the country's worst flooding for 50 years which has killed at least 381 people nationwide.

Yingluck Shinawatra told the capital's residents to be "confident", saying there may be overflow into some areas but it would not cause any great damage. She added: "We will recover soon."

Frantic efforts to protect Bangkok have continued as water flowing down the central Chao Phraya river basin from the north met peak tides surging in the Gulf of Thailand, 12 miles south of Bangkok.

This has led to fears the city's makeshift defences would be swamped.

The network of dykes protecting people from the Chao Phraya failed to stop the deluge in at least two neighbourhoods.

Water spilled into streets as workers and troops rushed to shore up concrete walls with sandbags.

While downtown Bangkok was bone-dry, areas along the city's outskirts saw flooding spread.

Seven of Bangkok's 50 districts - all in the northern and western outskirts - were heavily inundated and many people have been evacuated. Eight other districts have seen less serious flooding.

In the swamped suburbs and provinces, there are increasing worries about water-borne diseases and malaria.

Matthew Cochrane, of the International Red Cross, said the situation was critical. Many people were living in flooded areas without access to food and clean water.

"There are more than two million people who have been affected over the past few months. Many of them are still affected," Mr Cochrane said.

In some areas, crocodiles have escaped from overwhelmed farms, and snakes searching for dry land have slithered into homes.

Bangkok's governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the Chao Phraya reached a record level of 2.53 metres, just above what he previously said were dyke heights of 2.5 metres.

However, the tides were expected to ease below critical levels after Monday, and officials have suggested the flooding situation will improve after that.

Floodwaters have submerged entire towns across the country's heartland and shut down hundreds of factories during the previous two months.

In the past week, the waters have reached outer neighbourhoods of the capital, while its central districts of skyscrapers, apartment buildings and glitzy shopping centres have remained dry.

The weekend's high tides were described as the greatest test of the capital's flood defences, and many wary business owners built temporary walls around their entrances.