A woman sits on sandbags made for flood barriers Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. Fear and confusion gripped Bangkok as residents grappled with mixed messages over whether Thailand's worst floods in decades would overwhelm the intricate defenses of the low-lying metropolis of 9 million people. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
A woman sits on sandbags made for flood barriers Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. Fear and confusion gripped Bangkok as residents grappled with mixed messages over whether Thailand's worst floods in decades would overwhelm the intricate defenses of the low-lying metropolis of 9 million people. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
Thai villagers wade through floodwaters in Pak Kred district in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Flooding that has devastated great areas of northern and central Thailand and taken nearly 300 lives since July is threatening to seep into the capital, though officials say they can keep it out of the central part of the city. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thai villagers with their belongings wade through floodwaters in Pak Kred district in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Flooding that has devastated great areas of northern and central Thailand and taken nearly 300 lives since July is threatening to seep into the capital, though officials say they can keep it out of the central part of the city. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A Thai villager wades through floodwaters in Pak Kred district in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Flooding that has devastated great areas of northern and central Thailand and taken nearly 300 lives since July is threatening to seep into the capital, though officials say they can keep it out of the central part of the city. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A woman stops to read a notice pasted on a closed-down gate of an underground train station Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. Fear and confusion gripped Bangkok as residents grappled with mixed messages over whether Thailand's worst floods in decades would overwhelm the intricate defenses of the low-lying metropolis of 9 million people. Underground train operators closed some gates in fear of the floods. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) ? Thailand's government is expressing confidence that Bangkok will escape the worst flooding to hit this nation in decades as flood waters begin receding across central plains north of the capital.
Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut says said the largest volumes of runoff water flowing down from the north have already passed through Bangkok's Chao Phraya river and into the Gulf of Thailand.
He says water levels on the river will go no higher.
He also said Sunday that water levels in the provinces of Singburi, Angthong and hard-hit Ayutthaya have begun to recede.
Theera stopped short of saying the threat to the capital had passed, however.
Bangkok is being shielded from the floods by an elaborate system of flood walls, canals, dikes and underground tunnels.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) ? An elaborate system of defenses protecting Thailand's capital from high waters sweeping down from the north was holding up Sunday, protecting Bangkok from the worst floods to hit this Southeast Asian nation in decades.
Bangkok Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra said late Saturday he was worried about barriers on the northwest side of the city, saying they were not as strong as in other parts of Bangkok and water could flood around them and into the city from the west.
An Associated Press team that traveled to that area Sunday found no serious flooding in the district bordering on neighboring Nonthaburi and Nokhon Pathom provinces. Canals were not overflowing and, although some residents were still reinforcing sandbag walls, few were worried.
"People have faith these walls will work," said Pichitchai, a saffron-robed monk peaking over sandbags stacked along the edge of a canal that were protecting a Buddhist temple. The 36-year-old only has one name.
Over the last few days, government officials have voiced increasing confidence the capital would survive without major damage. On Sunday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra echoed those sentiments again, saying "I believe Bangkok will be safe."
While Bangkok is mostly dry, some towns in provinces just to the north have been submerged in water, forcing thousand of people to flee.
Nationwide, 297 people have been killed since relentless monsoon rains began inundating the country in late July. Flood waters since then have swamped two-thirds of the country, drowning agricultural land, swamping hundreds of factories and swallowing low-lying villages along the way.
More than 200 major highways and roads are impassable, and the main rail lines to the north have been shut down. Authorities says property damage and losses could reach $3 billion dollars.
Much of those flood waters are now flowing south, and the water is being diverted into rivers that empty into the Gulf of Thailand through a complex system flood walls, canals, dikes and underground tunnels that are protect Bangkok.
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