Crocs and cobras lurk in homes as Thai floods recede

Two men carry a crocodile caught and killed in Nonthaburi.

BANGKOK: People returning to homes in the Thai capital as record floods recede are finding crocodiles and snakes have moved in.

Teams from the Thai Fishery Department have caught at least 10 crocodiles since the country's worst flooding in more than half a century began in July.

Volunteer veterinarians have found cobras and rescued pet lions, tigers and bears from the homes of rich Thais.

The floods are receding after killing more than 600 people over vast areas of the kingdom, but for many the misery continues. Arunee Ninkaew's Bangkok home is now a putrid grey breeding ground for insects.

Weeks of living above the stagnant, foul-smelling floodwater, crammed into a single upstairs room with her diabetic husband, elderly mother-in-law and grandson, have left her in despair. 

She wakes each morning with the same feeling of hopelessness: "I think to myself, 'When? When will the water go?"'

The streets around her home in the district of Don Mueang are still under a meter of green water strewn with floating rubbish and glistening with petrol. The only way to get around is by boat.