Thai authorities are now battling in two fronts: the immense flooding and residents resisting the government's strategy to divert the rising waters away from Bangkok.

Reports indicate that the floods may last for more than four weeks in some areas, putting immense pressure on the new prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Officials are now guarding some structures to block the water from flowing into the capital as some citizens are removing them.

Latest updates from local dailies including the Bangkok Post said tight security are now guarding the anti-flood structures. As of Monday morning, unconfirmed reports indicate that flooding has reached Bangkok's northern districts Don Muang and may soon reach Laksi, as water levels rise in Khlong Prem Prachakorn and Khlong Prapa.

In Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya provinces, governors have barred the public from flood control operations. People can be jailed for disrupting the disaster management activities under the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act.

Residents opposing the flood structures, on the other hand, had cited that the government's approach will also further submerge their homes. A group of villagers in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district tried to disrupt the construction of a dike by officials working to prevent floodwater flowing into Khlong Prem Prachakorn on Saturday. The villagers feared the dike would prevent water from being drained out of their district.

Shinawatra Intervenes

After weeklong opposition from residents, Shinawatra ordered the closure of the Phra-in Racha sluice gate in Khlong Raphipat in Bang Pa-in district of Ayutthaya province, adjacent to Khlong 1 in Khlong Luang district of Pathum Thani on Sunday.

She ordered police to guard the Phra-in sluice gate and had Chatchawal Panyawatheenant, deputy director-general of the Irrigation Department, hold the key of the gate, reported the Bangkok Post.

The local daily added that "the failure to close the sluice gate sent floodwater from Wang Noi district of Ayutthaya through Khlong 1 to Rangsit in Pathum Thani and further to Khlong Prem Prachakorn, which flows down to Bangkok.

"Run-off from Pathum Thani and overflow from Khlong Prem Prachakorn has already flooded northern Bangkok."

Since the Thai flooding begun late in September due to torrential rains, some 113,000 people have taken refuge in shelters now numbering 1,700 shelters throughout Thailand, CNN reported.