They are getting washed away in Bangkok.  The rains have not abated, and the flood waters grow higher and more dangerous every day.

“Residents of Bangkok are escaping the flooded Thai capital in their tens of thousands due to worsening weather forecasts and the government’s evacuation orders.

Flood waters were already seeping into central parts of Bangkok on Thursday morning, with waters entering the Grand Palace, near the swollen Chao Phraya river, the AFP news agency reported.

Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay, reporting from Bangkok, said the number of districts that have been ordered to evacuate is increasing by the hour.

“The water level is only expected to rise when the floodwaters combine with high tides that are on the way,” he said.

Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Bangkok governor, said on Thursday that he expected to soon announce an evacuation warning for Sai Mai district, located on the city’s northern outskirts, where waist-high water has turned roads into virtual rivers and swamped petrol stations and homes.

A day earlier, Sukhumbhand said residents of two of the city’s 50 districts – Don Muang and Bang Phlat, both already partially submerged – should leave for shelters.”

I mention Bangkok here because my best friend called me last night from Suvarnabhumi airport.  He said everything was in very short supply.  Water, food, petrol were all extremely hard to come buy.  Transportation is sketchy at best.  He ended up taking a tuk-tuk to the airport in a harrowing 6 hour journey.  He assured me that he was getting the heck out of Dodge as fast as a plane darn near anywhere would take him.

Mass disruption

In the district of Sai Mai, on Bangkok’s northern outskirts, hundreds of residents clambered aboard packed military vehicles with their belongings, desperate to leave.

Yingluck said this week that central Bangkok could be swamped by up to 1.5 metres of water in some places if barriers broke and told residents to get their belongings up to high ground.

“After assessing the situation, we expect floodwater to remain in Bangkok for around two weeks to one month before going into the sea,” she said on Wednesday.

Authorities would guard important places such as the royal palace and power stations, she said.

The floods in the north, northeast and centre of Thailand have disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, with more than 113,000 in shelters and 720,000 people seeking medical attention.

Flooding has already forced the closure of seven industrial estates, causing billions of dollars of damage, disrupting international supply chains for industry and putting about 650,000 people temporarily out of work.