Bangkok Officials Have to Choose Who Stays Dry in Floods

BANGKOK — In the rush to defend Bangkok from monsoon floodwater on Tuesday, Thai officials were faced with the choice of saving men or machines.

Thai men used a boat to navigate through floodwater outside a shopping mall in Bangkok's Laksi district on Tuesday.

Angry residents of a northern Bangkok neighborhood are demanding that officials open a barrier that is causing flooding in their homes but keeping a nearby industrial area dry. “We are calling for justice,” said Boonsom Jitchuen, 52, a flooded shopkeeper who took part in protests Monday along what is known as the Sam Wa canal. “All we want is a place to sleep.”

The controversy is typical of the wrenching decisions that have faced the Thai leadership over the past two months, a triage between bad and worse options. Engineers, politicians and soldiers have been forced to pick who is drenched and who stays dry as the destructive path of floodwater descend from northern Thailand and heads toward the sea. Nearly 400 people have died in the flooding.

Hundreds of factories producing everything from computer components to car parts have already been inundated, with far-flung consequences for the interconnected world of manufacturing. Apple computer says a global shortage of hard-disk drives is now inevitable and Toyota and Honda have cut back production at their factories in North America because of a shortage of parts from Thailand.

The swollen Chao Phraya river flowed through Bangkok on Sunday.

But the Bang Chan Industrial Estate, a collection of factories producing, among other things, plastics, fertilizer, furniture and electronics, has until now stayed dry.

The Bangkok governor says the sluice gates in Ms. Boonsom’s neighborhood must stay closed if the industrial park, which is on the outskirts of Bangkok, is to be saved.

Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the governor, appeared to be at odds with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who ordered authorities to partially open the barrier, a Solomonic solution that local officials fear will result in both sides being flooded. Water is already flowing through a channel that was dug by angry residents during the protest on Monday.

In what is a largely Muslim neighborhood, residents gathered after an announcement was made over the loudspeaker of the local mosque. “The water keeps rising!” went the announcement, according to Somkiat Kalamad, a 34-year-old resident. “Please join a gathering to call for the opening of the flood gate.”

The women of the community blocked a road leading to the canal and the men hacked away at a dike, Mr. Somkiat said. On Tuesday, water continued to rush through the small channel they created.

It was unclear what affect this would have on the Bang Chan industrial zone or other parts of Bangkok. Some 100 police officers now patrol the area but residents are threatening further protests. The sluice gate is about 20 miles from central Bangkok, which has largely remained dry, thanks to a wall of sandbags erected, guarded and maintained by soldiers.

But water has seeped into northern districts over the past week and many roads are impassable. The government on Tuesday established committees to coordinate the clean-up and reopening of seven large industrial parks north of the city. Many companies say they are not sure when their factories will reopen. One manufacturer, Cal-Comp Electronics, said Tuesday that it planned to resume operations at its facility in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, at the end of the month. The flooding there had stabilized, the company said in a statement.

Along the Sam Wa canal, residents spoke with quavering voices about the floodwater they have endured for nearly two months. “We should share the hardship,” said Arthon Leebamrung, a 32-year-old gardener whose house is filled with waist-deep water. He defended the decision to partially break the flood wall.

“We couldn’t bear it any longer,” Mr. Arthon said. “We have been telling them for weeks to open the gate, but no one listened.”