Floods that began in mid-September have now spread across 50 of Thailand’s provinces and affected more than 4 million people, according to figures from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. NASA’s Earth Observatory published satellite images of the worst-hit area on Oct. 9, 2026, with the IFRC numbers as its summary of the disaster.
The federation also counts dozens of dead. Thai government agencies keep their own ledgers, and they run lower on people affected and higher on detail.
The IFRC count of 50 provinces and 4 million people
NASA Earth Observatory’s Oct. 9 Image of the Day, “Floodwaters Overwhelm Thailand,” carries the lead figures and credits them to the IFRC’s report No. 3 on the flooding, posted to ReliefWeb on Oct. 6: flooding in 50 provinces since mid-September, over 4 million people affected, and dozens of deaths with no exact tally. Lindsey Doermann wrote the story and Lauren Dauphin made the images, which use Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
The two images compare Prachin Buri province along the Bang Pakong River on Oct. 7, 2025 and Oct. 2, 2026, in false color so that water stands out from vegetation. The 2026 frame shows farmland and aquaculture ponds submerged, and the bright red shapes in it are floating solar arrays.
The Thai government’s lower ledger: 3.13 million people on Oct. 8
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation counts differently. On Oct. 1, Director-General Nirat Pongsittithavorn’s agency reported 3,352,395 people and 1,177,404 households affected in 30 provinces and Bangkok, with flooding in 191 districts, 1,228 subdistricts and 8,714 villages. Samut Prakan led by households, at 307,704, ahead of Pathum Thani at 182,290 and Chon Buri at 118,723, while Bangkok’s 329,000 households placed it first overall.
Seven days later, a Bernama report in Malay Mail relayed the department’s 6 a.m. figures for Oct. 8: 44 deaths since Sept. 16 and more than 3.13 million people across 1.14 million households, in 21 provinces plus parts of Bangkok. Prachin Buri had the most deaths at 19, ahead of Samut Prakan with 9 and Nakhon Nayok and Bangkok with 4 each. Nirat said flooding was still reported in 110 districts, 927 subdistricts and 6,928 villages.
The gap between 3.13 million and more than 4 million is a gap in bases. The department’s daily province count fell from 30 to 21 between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8, while the IFRC’s 50 provinces spans the whole period since mid-September. A weekly briefing by Thailand Explained, citing the Interior Ministry, put the affected provinces at 51 of 77 as of Oct. 7, with water still standing in 28 including Bangkok, and the ministry’s death toll at 60.
Rice country under water: roughly 270,000 hectares of farmland
NASA cites a government estimate of about 270,000 hectares of damaged farmland, including rice fields and fruit orchards. The estimate traces to the Department of Agricultural Extension, whose deputy director-general Rapeetat Unchittaphan said on Oct. 7 that more than 1.7 million rai had been hit and more than 150,000 farmers affected across 49 provinces. About 1.3 million rai of that was rice, 290,000 rai other field crops and 120,000 rai fruit orchards, with more than 26,000 rai of eastern orchards, durian among them, in a preliminary estimate.
On the money side, the same weekly briefing reported that compensation had reached more than 10,400 households and that the Bank of Thailand put the hit to gross domestic product at 0.03 to 0.1 percent, a small national figure set against the concentrated losses in Prachin Buri, Samut Prakan and Bangkok.
A stalled low-pressure system and nearly 300 mm over Bangkok
NASA describes “persistent heavy rains punctuated by intense downpours” and traces the flooding to a low-pressure system that stalled over the region for several days in late September, drawing moisture and energy from the warm Gulf of Thailand. Bangkok, about 100 km west of the Prachin Buri scene, received nearly 300 mm of rain in 48 hours, and NASA sets that against a September average of 344 mm from World Meteorological Organization data. ABC News Australia reported that authorities declared all of Bangkok a disaster zone on Sept. 26 and that by Sept. 28 about 580,000 homes were affected, more than 80,000 people could not leave theirs, and damage was estimated at about 11 billion baht ($466 million). Rayong province ordered an evacuation on Sept. 28 after two reservoirs exceeded capacity.
The water will not clear soon in the east. Thailand Explained, relaying the Office of the National Water Resources, reported that drainage in the Prachin Buri and Bang Pakong basin is projected to take 38 days, into mid-November.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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