ROUGH CUT- NO REPORTER NARRATION
Peak tides tested Bangkok's flood defences on Sunday as hope rose the centre of the Thai capital might escape the worst floods in decades, but that was little comfort for swamped suburbs and provinces where worry about disease is growing.
Water flowing down the central Chao Phraya river basin from the north is meeting peak tides surging in the Gulf of Thailand, 20 km (12 miles) south of Bangkok, leading to fears
the city's makeshift defences would be swamped.
The tides have pushed water in the river, which snakes its way through the city past gilded temples and wooden shanties, about 2.5 metres (8 feet) above sea level but dikes and
sand-bag walls have largely held.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a political novice who took over this year after an election that many Thais hoped would heal chronic political divisions, delivered the first
good news in days on Saturday when she said the water bearing down from the north was beginning to recede.
But the danger is far from over and Bangkok's governor issued a new warning on Sunday for people living near the river and by canals to get belongings up high and prepare to get out.
The floods have killed at least 381 people since July and affected more than 2 million.
