Bangkok may face new eastern flood front

[October 18, 2011]  BANGKOK (AP) -- Floodwaters are pressing toward Bangkok on several fronts as soldiers and residents pile sandbags, and officials sound a new alarm for neighborhoods east of the capital near the international airport.

The Royal Irrigation Department on Tuesday advised residents in a flood plain east of Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi Airport to build sandbag walls and move valuables to upper floors because water levels there were rapidly rising.

A department spokesman stressed that the airport itself was not threatened because it is well protected.

Authorities have been busy bolstering flood defenses along the northern perimeter of Bangkok in recent days.

Bangkok's other airport, north of Bangkok, is in another area where floods threaten, but is also believed safe for now.

[Associated Press; By THANYARAT DOKSONE and GRANT PECK]

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