The governor urged people to stay home after almost 300 millimetres of rain fell since Thursday afternoon, while Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he was cutting short a trip to London to return.

“The water keeps coming in. It’s hard to go out now. It’s like at my waist level now,” said Somkid Pheuk-ngam, 67, a vendor who lives near a canal just north of central Bangkok.

“I cannot go anywhere. I have been closing my shop for two days now,” she told AFP, adding that while she often gets flooded, “I think this time is worse than the 2011 flood.”

Widespread deluges across Thailand in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.

Almost continuous rain since Thursday afternoon has swelled Bangkok’s network of canals, sending murky water into surrounding homes, restaurants, shops and alleyways.

Numerous major roads were also flooded on Saturday, AFP reporters saw, while residents were forced to wade through knee- or sometimes thigh-high water in several different neighbourhoods.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) declared a disaster for all the city’s 50 districts, a move which gives local organisations special powers to act.

“I woke up to go to work and the street in front of my house was flooded,” said motorbike rider Samruay Nakkamnueng in the Ari neighbourhood.

“I worried if my motorbike would be able to wade through this much floodwater.”

In the On Nut neighbourhood, an AFP reporter saw locals filling sandbags to take home to protect their homes and businesses.

Bangkok authorities said they had prepared one million sandbags for distribution and has opened several temporary shelters in schools.

‘Every canal filled’

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said the east of the city was most impacted and warned more rain was forecast.

“The rain keeps falling and we are doing our best. We are trying to pump the water out,” he said on social media on Saturday morning.

“The risk areas are those who live near canals. Every canal is now filled.”

Water levels later began to stabilise thanks to the city’s pumping stations, which were operating at full capacity, pumping some 1,200 cubic meters per second combined, the BMA said.

“If there is no additional rainfall, the situation is expected to improve within six hours,” it said in a lunchtime update.

Once dubbed the “Venice of the East” because of its canals, Bangkok is built on former marshland and rests about 1.5 metres above sea level.

Chadchart urged bedridden patients depending on life-saving medical equipment to consider a temporary stay in hospital.

He also advised residents to move their cars to higher ground, and Bangkok’s public transport authority offered free access to MRT train “park and ride” carparks to store their vehicles, until October 2.

Wetter than usual

Municipal workers were busy on Saturday trying to keep the roads clear.

“Our job is to make sure rubbish along the road doesn’t block the drains, so the water can drain away quickly,” said Kwan Nobnom, one of a group wearing bright orange raincoats.

“We thought this year would be dry, so we didn’t expect the flooding to be this bad.”

September is the peak of the rainy season in Bangkok but it has been wetter than usual, according to figures from the drainage and sewage department.

The capital recorded 487 mm of rain between September 1 and 25, compared to an average of almost 269 mm for the same period from 1991-2020.

Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation warned of low pressure across eastern, northeastern and central Thailand until Sunday.

Speaking at the 27th informal meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in New York, he said the sincerity and dedication of Pakistan’s leadership had led it to engage closely with “brotherly countries and partners” to facilitate peaceful outcomes. “These efforts have yielded tangible progress, which we must now consolidate and preserve,” he said.

Dar said Pakistan remained determined to stay constructively engaged in the endeavour, adding that ECO member states must harness their collective strength to promote peace, resilience, solidarity and shared prosperity for nearly half a billion people.

He said the region stood at a critical juncture, facing significant challenges alongside unprecedented opportunities. Climate change was placing growing pressure on water and food security, while emerging connectivity corridors offered the prospect of linking Central and South Asia and unlocking the region’s economic potential.

Dar said the ECO required stronger political commitment and institutional reforms to respond effectively to these challenges. He called for a review and streamlining of the ECO Secretariat and affiliated institutions to ensure their mandates and structures remained responsive to evolving political and economic realities.

“Our shared objective must be to transform the ECO region into a more integrated, dynamic and competitive region within the Global South,” he said.

He said Pakistan, as chair of the ECO Council of Ministers for 2026-27, would focus particularly on trade and economic integration, connectivity and transit, trade facilitation and climate resilience.

The deputy prime minister noted that despite covering around eight million square kilometres and being home to nearly half a billion people, the ECO region accounted for only around 2.2 per cent of global trade, while intra-regional trade remained approximately 8pc of total regional trade.

“These figures underscore the considerable untapped potential,” he said, calling for the experience of successful regional organisations to be used to deepen economic integration.

On connectivity and transit, Dar said strengthening transport networks, harmonising customs procedures and improving transit systems must remain central to the ECO agenda.

He called for the accelerated operationalisation of key corridors linking Central Asia with ports on the Arabian Sea, saying Pakistan was ready to serve as a gateway for the region by leveraging its strategic location and liberalised visa regime to facilitate the movement of people and goods.

On trade facilitation, he said the ECO Trade Agreement remained an important instrument for regional economic integration.

“We should build on the roadmap adopted by ECO trade ministers in November 2025 and move towards a functional and digitally enabled ECO Free Trade Area that expands market access, supports businesses and promotes innovation,” he said.

Dar also highlighted climate change as a serious and growing threat to water security, agriculture and livelihoods in the region.

He called for stronger cooperation on disaster risk reduction, climate-resilient infrastructure, sustainable energy and adaptation.

He expressed confidence that the informal Council of Ministers meeting would provide fresh impetus to the regional agenda and help translate common aspirations into practical outcomes.

As Pakistan prepares to host the 30th ECO Council of Ministers meeting in Islamabad in November, Dar said Islamabad looked forward to working closely with all member states and the ECO Secretariat.

He also said Pakistan was advancing the Strategic Goals of Economic Cooperation 2026-2035, which would provide a framework for regional cooperation over the coming decade.

The deputy prime minister appreciated ECO Secretary General Dr Asad Majeed Khan and the ECO Secretariat for their efforts to advance the organisation’s agenda.

“Pakistan regards ECO as a vital platform for regional cooperation and a cornerstone of our shared aspirations in Asia,” he said, adding that the task was to translate the region’s collective potential into greater connectivity, deeper economic integration and shared prosperity.

Later, the Foreign Office (FO) also shared Dar’s statement issued at the meeting.

Afghanistan

Dar also emphasised the importance of peace and stability for regional prosperity and development, saying terrorism emanating from Afghan soil undermined these efforts.

“Pakistan has always desired a peaceful, prosperous and stable Afghanistan that is fully integrated into the region and is at peace with itself and its neighbours,” he said, adding that this was aligned with Pakistan’s foreign policy goals of peace, development and regional integration.

He said Pakistan had pursued and advocated constructive engagement with the Taliban regime, extending bilateral and transit trade concessions to Afghanistan and pursuing the signing of a framework agreement for a feasibility study on the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan railway project.

“Pakistan’s only expectation was for the Taliban regime to address our legitimate security concerns,” Dar said, adding that Islamabad expected concrete and verifiable action against the TTP, BLA and their affiliates, which he said continued to threaten Pakistan’s sovereignty and the lives of its citizens.

“We believe that peace and development in the region can only be achieved with the elimination of the terrorist threat from Afghanistan,” he said.

While they reached no breakthroughs on the world’s most intractable conflicts, talks on the Iran and Ukraine wars inched forward and global powers used the venue to debate AI risks with industry leaders.

Here are the big takeaways from scores of panels, hundreds of meetings, hours spent in lines and listening to speeches and countless cups of coffee:

Reboot of Iran diplomacy

The UN was probably most useful for facilitating the first shuttle talks between American and Iranian officials since the collapse of a ceasefire in July. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators.

The efforts must continue, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, even as Iranian and American leaders exchanged sharp words at the General Assembly hall, with the US threatening to “annihilate” Iran and Iran accusing the US of a “bullying mentality.”

The senior Iranian official said Tehran was reviewing Washington’s response to its proposals, which include lifting a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

But no agreement appeared imminent. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned that a deal would involve hard work over time.

Ukraine gain and energy

Rubio also held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after which he said Ukraine and Russia had both voiced an interest in a limited ceasefire involving grain and energy-related targets.

Ukraine and its allies are racing to secure limited agreements on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping before winter, fearing renewed Russian strikes on power and heating facilities.

But hours after Rubio spoke on Wednesday, Lavrov addressed the Security Council meeting on Ukraine, showing no indication Russia was prepared to engage on any subject. “Europe, whatever it thinks, just wants to get a pause, and it wants to use it to pump the Kyiv regime with weapons,” Lavrov said.

AI steals climate’s spotlight

Climate change, a focus of UN discussions in recent years, was largely pushed aside by debate over artificial intelligence.

The festival of diplomacy coincided with an unprecedented outpouring of concern around AI after several safety breaches, and as top researchers warned it could destroy humanity.

The UN convened a Security Council meeting featuring OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who made an appearance in person, as well as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The industry leaders appealed for governments to work together to manage AI.

Underscoring the concerns, just as they spoke, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that an AI agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June, accessing public and non-public files.

President Donald Trump, who has dismissed AI risks as a “hoax” and “sick conspiracy,” told the UN he “rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” AI, describing it as amazing while promising the US would be careful.

Surprise arrival

The biggest surprise arrival at the UN was Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who used her trip to hold first in-person talks with Trump since coming to power after the arrest of then-President Nicolas Maduro by US forces in a dramatic nighttime raid.

The Venezuelan delegation’s focus was on restructuring its billions of dollars in sovereign debt as it met US officials, multilateral lenders and companies.

Trump used his speech to the body dedicated to global peace to declare that in Venezuela: “to the victor belong the spoils,” and called an oil deal the US signed with Caracas last month “perhaps the biggest deal ever made.” As Rodriguez and Trump met in New York, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado made three unsuccessful bids to return to her country.

Surprise absence

The biggest surprise absence was the Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The US withheld his visa in a move that Sudanese and other sources said was linked to a US-backed ceasefire proposal that Khartoum has resisted.

The dispute, first reported by Reuters, threatened to deepen tensions between Washington and Sudan’s army at a critical moment in the civil war, which the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Burhan had represented Sudan at the General Assembly since the coup. Another notable absentee was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed delegates by video and condemned US curbs on the Palestinian mission’s access to the UN.

Uncertain future

The cash-strapped UN may no longer be in “freefall,” but it remains stuck in an “open-ended crisis,” International Crisis Group analyst Richard Gowan said. The organisation is grappling with shrinking budgets, waning influence and mounting geopolitical conflicts.

Wars in Ukraine and Iran rage on, while Trump has denounced the 193-member body as bloated and globalist, slashed US funding and withdrawn from dozens of UN agencies.

As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received a standing ovation after his final General Assembly speech, a small group of politicians and former UN officials lobbied publicly and behind closed doors to succeed him. His second five-year term ends on December 31, leaving little time for the world’s major powers to agree on a replacement.

The race, conducted according to an arcane multi-step process involving “straw polls,” has no clear frontrunner, but former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan and Guyana’s UN Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett are leading the pack.

Whoever gets the world’s most difficult job will inherit an organisation buffeted by crises, low morale and declining political relevancy. That person, too, will welcome the leaders to New York for next year’s summit.

The waterway, key to the world’s oil supply, is central to the conflict between the United States and Iran, which is at a stalemate after nearly seven months.

But new mediation efforts at the UN’s gathering of world leaders in New York this week offered some optimism of progress toward a deal.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met for talks on Tuesday with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, and previously set out conditions for ending the war and reopening the vital shipping channel.

“Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days,” Araghchi said at the UN.

“The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept coercion, threats, or intimidation, and Iran will not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure.”

However, with hours of his comments, The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had rejected the proposal, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

The report noted that the 80-year-old president was sceptical Tehran would meet his demands and added he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely.

Trump also posted an image to his Truth Social platform of a map showing the Strait of Hormuz circled and labelled “Trump Strait.”

Earlier media reports suggested the new plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon.

Frozen assets

It also reportedly calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets estimated to be worth at least $12 billion, as well as the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.

On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview with broadcaster CBS that the ceasefire “process will begin from the very day they accept it.”

“We had previously reached an agreement based on the MOU that was signed in Pakistan…if the United States agrees to proceed in that way, everything will return to the way it was before,” he added.

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran’s demands.

The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that aimed to end the war, reopen the strait and launch talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.

Iran requires ships to obtain authorisation before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons.

Ships that refuse to comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.