Thailand flood reaches Bangkok

Flood waters inundating Thailand north of Bangkok since July have made the journey south and reached the capital. The disaster is responsible for 400 deaths in Thailand and neighboring Cambodia and Vietnam. Thailand is the world's biggest rice exporter, but the floods have wiped out over a quarter of the country's crop. The government has declared a five-day holiday for the capital to allow residents time to evacuate. Damages could top six billion dollars in Thailand's worst flooding in 50 years. Collected here are images of the water as it moves south to Bangkok, and how residents there are dealing with the disaster. -- Lane Turner (43 photos total)

A woman holds a toddler as she walks through floodwaters in an area near the Chao Praya river in Bangkok on October 29, 2011. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)

Thai soldiers hold onto each other against the water flowing into a neighborhood after a wall was breached by the swollen Chao Phraya River in Bangkok on October 30, 2011. (Altaf Qadri/AP) #

Thai residents make their way across a flooded street close to the rising waters of the Chao Phraya river on October 30, 2011 in Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images) #

Thai residents are transported out of a flooded street close to the Chao Phraya river on October 30, 2011 in Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images) #

A Thai couple push a cart by the empty shelves inside a supermarket whose suppliers were affected by flooding in Bangkok on October 29, 2011. (Andy Wong/AP) #

Thai flood victims pack a crowded evacuation center on October 30, 2011 in Bangkok. Thousands of flood victims have been forced to take shelter at crowded evacuation centers around the capitol city. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

A Thai man wades along chest-deep floodwaters in the outskirts of Bangkok on October 27, 2011. (Aaron Favila/AP) #

Houses in a residential area are submerged in the northern section of Bangkok on October 30, 2011. (Kyodo News/AP) #

Thai workers and soldiers try to fix the breach at a temporary wall during high tide in Bangkok on October 30, 2011. (Aaron Favila/AP) #

Flood victims watch TV at the Don Muang airport, which had become an evacuation center, on October 23, 2011 in Bangkok. It has since been evacuated. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) #

A man floats on a truck tire with supplies of beer as floods advance into central Bangkok on October 26, 2011. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) #

A Thai child carries a gas tank through floods in Rangsit district on the outskirts of Bangkok on October 21. Children make up around a quarter of the nearly 800 deaths the United Nations has tallied since July across Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines, which have been ravaged by some of the worst flooding in decades. Drownings are a huge unreported epidemic in Southeast Asia, killing an estimated 240,000 children up to 17 years old each year - mostly because the majority of kids in the region simply never learn to swim. (Aaron Favila/AP) #

An elderly woman is evacuated along flooded streets near the Chao Phraya river on October 25, 2011 in Bangkok. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

Thai Dhammakaya monks push a truck, stuck in mud, as they work to fortify the flood gate at Khlong Rapi Pat on October 25, 2011 in Khlong Luang, on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

A woman hangs onto a street sign in chest-deep water on October 24, 2011 in Rangsit on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

A man with bottles of water wades down a flooded street on October 24, 2011 in Bangbuathong, Thailand. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

People push their belongings through floodwaters during an evacuation from a flooded market in Bangkok October 24, 2011. (Sukree Sukplang/Reuters) #

An exhausted man gets a boat ride to an evacuation center on a flooded street on October 23, 2011 in Bangbuathong, Thailand. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

Thai Dhammakaya monks and volunteers work to fortify the flood gate made of sandbags and pipes at Klong Rapi Pat on October 23, 2011 in Klong Luang on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

A family floats back on a handmade raft to their house (seen behind) on October 23, 2011 in Klong Luang, on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images) #

A family evacuates at night along the flooded streets October 22, 2011 in Bangbuathong on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

Thai residents make their way through flooded streets across sandbags on October 22, 2011 in Pathum Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images) #

This pair of photographs from NASA shows images from space of the Bangkok metropolitan area (lower center) taken by the Terra satellite on November 12, 2008 (left) and the same area on October 19, 2011, illustrating the flood surge north of the city. (NASA/AFP/Getty Images) #

A Thai man bathes on the street after becoming homeless when his home flooded October 21, 2011 in Pathumthani on the outskirts of Bangkok. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

A man paddles a makeshift raft through a flooded area in the suburbs of Bangkok October 20, 2011. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) #

An elderly woman walks on a wooden bridge across floodwaters in Bang Bua Thon, in Nonthaburi province, suburban Bangkok, on October 18, 2011. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images) #

A Thai rescue worker sits next to a crocodile caught in a flooded area in Ayutthaya province October 15, 2011. (Sukree Sukplang/Reuters) #

Motorcycle taxi driver Chatchawal Phuengwut holds a python he caught in floodwaters just outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok October 28, 2011. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) #

A Thai boy holds aloft banknotes to keep them dry while he swims during the flood in Nonthaburi province, suburban Bangkok, on October 15, 2011. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images) #

This aerial picture shows an under-construction temple surrounded by floodwaters outside the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok on October 11, 2011. (Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images) #

Vehicles at a Honda car factory are submerged in floodwaters in the Rojana industrial district in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand on October 16, 2011. (Sakchai Lalit/AP) #

Thai factory workers walk through floodwaters as they evacuate the area of Nava Nakhorn industry estate in Pathum Thani province, suburban Bangkok, on October 18, 2011. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images) #

Thai residents make their way through flooded streets on October 22, 2011 in Pathum Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

People queue to buy bus tickets to leave the Thai capital at a bus terminal in Bangkok October 27, 2011. (Kerek Wongsa/Reuters) #

A Thai worker looks at an aircraft parked in floodwaters at Don Muang airport in Bangkok on October 27, 2011. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images) #

Thai soldiers wade through floodwaters and evacuate dogs in Bangkok on October 26, 2011. (Sakchai Lalit/AP)#

Thai residents make their way across a flooded street near the Chao Phraya river on October 29, 2011 in Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)#

A resident sleeps with her dog on an elevated bed that stands in the floodwaters in Chinatown near the Chao Praya river in Bangkok on October 27, 2011. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images) #

A woman in need of medical attention is evacuated by boat from the flood waters in Bangkok's Bang Phlat district October 30, 2011. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)#

A flood victim rides through the water using a homemade tall three-wheeler in Bang Phlad district, Bangkok on October 30, 2011. (Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters)#

A man walks along sandbags as flood waters rush through a market near the overflowing Chao Phraya river on October 29, 2011 in Bangkok. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)#

A resident pulls her belongings as she wades through her flooded neighborhood in Thon Buri outside Bangkok on October 28, 2011. (Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters)#

A woman weeps as she talks on the phone on October 26, 2011 in Bangkok. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)#