Floods that have swamped Thailand’s central plains and parts of Bangkok, claiming 536 lives in three months, showed signs of receding on the capital’s northern roads yesterday. Water had receded on roads nearest to central Bangkok, but was still 30-40 centimetres deep in other areas further north. Officials have been pumping flood runoff from the north into Bangkok’s eastern and western suburbs in a effort to protect the centre of the capital. Rising waters were reported in several districts on the west side of the Chao Phraya River that flows through the city. As the runoff flows to the sea it is expected to cut off the main highway that links Bangkok to the southern provinces. Knee-high water was seen yesterday in the area near the highway, forcing people to evacuate, Thai TV 3 reported. The Transport Ministry said it would reopen an alternative route to the south today. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Bangkok on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the flood crisis and the government’s rehabilitation plans. This year’s unusually heavy monsoon rains caused dam reservoirs and rivers to overflow, triggering the worst floods in the central plains in decades, claiming 536 lives and causing billions of dollars in damage over the past three months. Outlying districts in the western and eastern suburbs, where the government has diverted the runoff to keep it from the inner city, are expected to suffer flooding for up to six weeks. City officials said 32 of the capital’s 50 districts have suffered some level of flooding over the past month. Meanwhile, a Bangkok hospital has opened a kidney disease centre to service thousands of Thais whose medical treatment has been disrupted or threatened by floods, news reports said. The Priest Hospital in central Bangkok set up the centre to treat patients affected in recent weeks by the worst floods to hit Thailand in decades, the Bangkok Post reported. Suphat Vanichchakarn, chairman of the centre, estimated that in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces there were up to 10,000 kidney disease patients in need of haemodialysis three times a week. “Lacking access to essential treatment could be fatal for kidney disease patients,” he said. Bangkok has been hard hit by monsoon floods this year that swamped the central plains and the northern parts of the capital and suburbs. Several hospitals have been forced to close as 32 of Bangkok’s 50 districts have suffered floods. DPA