Thailand floods: 'Roads are now rivers'

Workers in Thailand are racing to complete floodwalls of sandbags on the outskirts of Bangkok to stop the country's worst floods in years from inundating parts of the capital.

In the province of Ayutthaya - one of the worst-affected areas - people have been moving to evacuation shelters.

At least 270 people have died in the Thailand floods since July. Here BBC website readers in Thailand share their stories.

Stuart Ward, Bangkok

I live in the north of Bangkok right by the river, so as you can imagine I'm right in the thick of it.

Stuart Ward: 'The locals are building walls around their shops'

The river is at bursting point and the water from the north is not due for at least a couple of days.

You also have the added problem of the high tides and more rain that's forecasted.

The Thais are working overtime trying to build walls to stop the flood.

Local shop keepers are building walls around their shops with sandbags to stop the water from entering.

Many temples are starting to flood.

This is just the beginning. I'm sure the picture will unfold within the next two to three days.

I travel on the river everyday and over the past month it has just been rising and rising so I'm pretty sure the banks will burst.

Chris Rodgers, Nonthaburi

In my village, which is on the outskirts of Bangkok, the water has been gradually rising a few inches every day.

We had the first water six days ago, when it started with one or two inches. There's about a foot now. The drains are full so there's nowhere for the water to run.

We have thunderstorms every day, so we get more water.

There's no flood relief here. Other areas are getting sandbags, but they are much worse off than we are.

My housing estate has turned into a lake in the last few days, roads are now rivers. I took the car out three days ago, but I wouldn't risk taking it out now.

Chris Rodgers' housing estate

I moved to Thailand 18 years ago but have only lived in this area for about three years and this is the first flooding I've seen.

When I moved here everyone told me this village has never flooded, but that's clearly not the case any more!

Our main concern now is when the high tides come in a few days. We will just have to move everything upstairs and sit it out.

At the moment the electricity is ok, and it hasn't been off.

We managed to get to the shops the other day, but there has been lots of panic buying so we had to go to a few shops before we could find any bottled water. Hopefully we have enough things to last us through the floods.

Robert Eden, Pathum Thani

We are near where one of the flood barriers is located.

We went for a walk around the defences today. It is highly unlikely that they will survive much more water.

In some places people have given up building sand walls as they are too small and the mass of water is simply too much.

Sand is being delivered to make barriers to stop the flood waters rising. Photo: Robert Eden

If the water does go up like it has done in the central province of Ayutthaya, it will go way over the defences here.

However, within Muang Ake life continues much as normal. Some people have made preparations but many seem to be relying on the spirits to sort things out - in true Thai tradition.

We do not know what to expect in the coming days and it is hard to find out any information.

Some people are moving stuff from ground floor buildings, while others leave their belongings where they are.

It would be good to know what to do, like shall we move our car? Will our stuff be OK on the second floor? I think we will have to wait and see.

Jeremy Joseph, Bangkok

We live about two miles, three kilometres, from the Chao Phraya River in an area that has seen no river-based floods for about 20 years.

Like our neighbours, we have moved many of our precious things upstairs. There is more to go up tomorrow, too, including the fridge, television and microwave.

We spent about eight times our normal weekly grocery spend on dry and canned foods, like noodles and tinned fish, in the local supermarket yesterday evening.

If the floods look bad - the flood plain here is broad, so the water's depth might be limited.

We think we'll be able to get out safely, so we might go to stay with our family in the north east of Thailand, well away from the floods.