Bangkok shops impose emergency rationing amid flood fears (VIDEO)

GlobalPost

Bangkok stores were imposing emergency rationing after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra warned that there could be as much as five feet of flooding in some areas of the capital.

Anxious residents in the capital stockpiled food and other necessities for fear Bangkok could be inundated with floodwaters for weeks to come, Reuters reports.  

Yingluck has declared a five-day holiday so that people can protect their homes and businesses; Schools have been closed until Nov. 7.

GlobalPost's Patrick Winn appears in this report on the floods by PBS Newshour:

Water flooding down from Thailand's north and through Bangkok into the Gulf of Thailand could back up against a high tide expected at the end of the week, increasing the threat to low-lying areas, Yingluck said, The New York Times reports. 

The Chao Phraya River, which winds through the capital, is expected to break its banks this weekend.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the Thai floods, and three preceding months of heavy rains, reportedly rose to 366 on Tuesday.

Bangkok's Don Muang airport, being used as a temporary shelter for some of the 113,000 people reported to be homeless, was closed Tuesday night, after floodwaters flowed onto runways and affected the lighting, CNN reports.

Nok Air, which operates all flights from Don Muang, canceled all flights through October 31, and Orient Thai Airlines temporarily moved all domestic operations to the main Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The evacuees are being bused out in their thousands to centers outside of Bangkok, according to news reports.

The international airport, Suvarnabhumi, on higher ground, continued normal operations.

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