Thailand Floods 2011: Video Explains Flood Causes

A Thai video explaining the causes of the devastating floods ravaging the country has gone viral on the Internet.

500,000 people have watched the cartoon, which compares the destructive power of the floods to the weight of 50 million blue whales. The video explains that 'the information flood' many have experienced from googling information on the flood has caused some to panic, buying boats and stocking up on food and supplies, while others seem unfazed. The video then carries on with a strange analogy of how to get rid of the whales (or drain the flood water).

The makers of the clip explain that both nature and man-made factors contributed to the floods. The water currently flooding the country is rain water, the clip says, which has arrived in unusual volumes this year. At the same time, deforestation and industrialisation have reduced the land's capacity to absorbe the water.

Thailand has been battling its worst floods in half a century. At least 377 people have been killed since mid-July and millions of homes have been destroyed, AFP reports.

According to Reuters, tens of thousands fled the Thai capital of Bangkok on Friday, as the city's Chao Phraya River banks are expected to burst over the weekend.

"It seems like we're fighting against the forces of nature, massive floodwater that is causing damage to several of our dykes," Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said.

Watch the video above.