PHUKET: People are on the move all over Thailand this holiday long weekend as suburbs and industries close down around Bangkok.

Along with migration driven by the flooding disaster, confidence in the country's leadership is diminishing even faster than the waters are rising.

Each day, the battle on the streets to hold back and divert the floodwaters assumes greater political importance, and mostly it's damaging and destructive.

At this stage, Suvarnabhumi International Airport continues to operate normally and thousands of tourists are coming and going with dry feet, even as Thailand's broader economic toll mounts.

Today's 'Bangkok Post' reported that 227 branches of commercial banks and a finance company have been temporary closed, and water has affected 67 listed companies representing 12 percent of total revenues and net profits of firms on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

This and the public holiday long weekend are why hundreds of thousands of people are on the move, most of them Burmese laborers or Thai factory workers who no longer have jobs because their places of work have been inundated.

Figuring whether the plan to divert water around central Bangkok is succeeding now and will continue to work in the future is difficult given the consistent lack of reliable information.

Instead of becoming clearer as the authorities work together to tackle the common foe, the ability for the media to discern the truth appears to be gurgling, and going under.

Late today, 'The Nation' newspaper reported online that Science Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, richest of all the millionaires in the new Yingluck Shinawatra government, had urged his colleagues to tell the whole truth to Bangkokians.

Jusr exactly what Thais are not being told wasn't made clear. However, according to the newspaper, the minister predicted that all parts of Bangkok will be flooded.

Khun Plodprasob, the head of the National Disaster Warning Centre, said the government should immediately give accurate information to the people without worrying that the truth would cause panic.

He certainly seems to be doing a lot of warning lately. A little over a week ago the same minister was apologising for his problem with premature evacuation.

He had told people in part of Bangkok that they needed to flee, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Just who do we believe? It's impossible to say right now.

Further south, Phuket is doing its bit. Bathed mostly in good holiday weather, the island is sending convoy after convoy of bottled water and cash north to Bangkok to alleviate the suffering of those who are not going to be enjoying the break this Monday.

And the Minister of Science does appear to be right about the need for more and more people to evacuate, he just needs to improve his precision somewhat.

Later this week, Bangkok faces a peak danger period, when high tides will slow the outflow and floods will be most likely to breach canal walls.

Everyone agrees that Bangkok will need good luck then. However, as the days pass, fewer are so certain that Bangkok needs Yingluck, or her quirky team.