Thai PM hopes flood drainage can be sped up

BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand's prime minister says she hopes the process of draining floodwater through Bangkok can be sped up now that peak high tides have passed.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Monday that 'if there is no more additional water, the current runoff might not cause heavy flooding in Bangkok.'

She said there was still a massive amount of water that needs to pass through the capital's drainage network as it makes its way down from flooded provinces in the north.

Record high tides pushing up the Chao Phraya River from the Gulf of Thailand have made draining the water from Thailand's worst flooding in a half-century more difficult. That has put extreme pressure on Bangkok's flood defences, though they have largely held and most of the city remains dry.