Officials: Main Bangkok airport safe

Bangkok's international airport, surrounded by floodwalls more than 10 feet high, is not at risk of inundation, officials said Friday. Somchai Sawasdipol, president of the Airports Authority of Thailand, said the worst-case prediction is that the water around Suvarnabhumi Airport will be 5 feet above normal, the Bangkok Post reported. The flood walls put up as a temporary protection are more than twice that height. Floodwaters continued to spread into new neighborhoods, the Post said. In some cases, the water was only a few inches deep and streets were still passable to cars, but it was rising. The closing of the Central Lat Phrao Department Store was announced as the street in front of the building flooded. The flooding in Thailand is expected to affect the supply of computer hard drives, The New York Times reported. More than 1,000 factories have had to shut down, and clean-up is expected to take months.