Thailand's government has decided to divert devastating floodwaters into Bangkok's outskirts to protect the capital, according to the Bangkok Post.
Sparing the heart of the city will carry a heavy price. The districts being sacrificed aren't at all rural. Like Bangkok's city center, they're also densely populated with people and shops — just less so than the core of Bangkok, a roughly 10 million-population metropolis.
Thousands of Thais — troops, students and shopkeepers — are now furiously reinforcing a nearly four-mile sandbag wall along the districts expected to take on flooding. According to Bloomberg, the death toll is up to 315.
With more rain expected in coming days — and grey skies outside my apartment windows in Bangkok — it appears nature is not yet ready to spare Thailand.