Chao Phraya River could burst its banks due to high tides :Thailand

Traffic clogged roads out of Bangkok Friday as tens of thousands of people fled ahead of a high tide expected to worsen floods that have inundated factories and prompted foreign governments to warn their citizens to stay away.

The main concern is that Bangkok's Chao Phraya River will burst its banks over the weekend during the unusually high tide that begins Friday. Buildings across Bangkok have been sand-bagged for protection, and some vulnerable streets were nearly deserted.

Thailand's worst flooding in half a century, caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, has killed 377 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.2 million, until now mostly in the north and central provinces.

Television footage showed cars and trucks bumper-to-bumper leaving the city and the main airport's departure lounges packed, but the traffic department said it could not put an exact figure on the size of the Bangkok exodus because much of its monitoring equipment was under water.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she was considering a proposal to dig channels into some roads in eastern Bangkok to drain water into the Gulf of Thailand, an idea backed by the chairman of the Thailand unit of Toyota Motor Corp whose factories have been badly flooded.

The Meteorological Department warned residents living along the Chao Phraya they could face rising waters. Roads around the Grand Palace, a top tourist attraction, are partially flooded along with some streets in densely populated Chinatown.

Friday morning, on a street in front of the Grand Palace normally bustling with tourists, a two-meter (6 1/2-ft) snake was caught by a motorcycle taxi driver. Residents have also had to contend with crocodiles escaping from flooded farms.

While many of the inner-city streets of Bangkok remained dry, the suburbs continued to struggle.

In the riverside shantytown of Bang Phlad, small wooden homes were knee-deep in foul-smelling water with rubbish floating on the surface. Residents carried belongings above their heads, struggling against the current of water pumped back out to the river.