Bangkok braced for record flooding (VIDEO)

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Bangkok, Thailand's capital, was braced for flooding Sunday after the Chao Phraya River burst its banks and water levels rose in some of Bangkok's northern suburbs.

Despite assurances by Flood Relief Operations Command that the river's spillover could be drained off, reported by The Associated Press, Thai troops raced to fortify defense walls Sunday to protect two key industrial zones.

And the Command said Bangkok should brace for more high tides in the coming week, which could cause rivers to back up, CNN reports.

Floodwaters had spilled onto highways north of the capital, including near Bangkok's second airport in the Don Muang district, the AP reports, adding that the situation was "dire" away from the highways.

Around 3,000 people were reportedly camped out at the airport, eTaiwan reports.

The floods — which began in August in northern Thailand and are now considered the worst in half a century, according to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra — were approaching Bangkok's city area gradually.

Reuters reports that:

Measures to divert floodwater from the north around the city and into the Gulf of Thailand appeared to be working but the possibility of heavy rainfall into canals already full to the brim left much of the city uneasy.

Yinluck told reporters: "The water is coming from different places and headed in the same direction. We're trying to build walls, there will be some impact on Bangkok, but we don't know the extent of that."

He also said the flooding could take up to six weeks to recede.

The death toll from the flooding has reached 356, while the damage is expected to cost $6 billion so far.

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