PHUKET: The battle for Bangkok began in earnest today with authorities channeling water away from the centre of the city and warning that relief from the floods could take four weeks.

At 4.28pm, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra issued a warning for residents of 27 communities along the capital's Chao Phya River, but outside flood barriers, to evacuate immediately.

With water bearing down on the capital, tourism industry officials on Phuket remain confident that global media coverage of the Thailand floods will not lead to mass cancellations on Phuket this high season.

Today there are two Thailands - the provinces as broad as Switzerland now swirling under a monsoon deluge, with the battle now on to keep central Bangkok dry, and a holiday Thailand where there has been no flooding.

Television news covers Bangkok as an impending disaster, with few broadcasters noting that Phuket, Samui, Krabi, Phang Nga and other tourism destinations - including central Bangkok itself - have not been affected.

In the capital, authorities have begun to channel the floodwaters from the central plains out to sea through canals in the city, where water has already risen waist-high water in its northern outskirts.

Meanwhile 650 kilometres to the south, in Phuket, it's a very different story.

''So far, so good,'' Tourism Authority of Thailand Phuket regional director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon said. ''There have been no resort cancellations to speak of.''

The only effect on Phuket has been in supermarkets where shoppers have recently noted a shortage of some essential items - bottled water, cooking oil, packaged rice and small batteries. Supplies are being diverted to Bangkok and the flood areas, or donated by people on Phuket.

Back in August, a monsoon downpour did flood parts of Phuket and force the evacuation of patients from Patong Hospital. More monsoon downpours since then have triggered landslides and caused part of the Patong Hill road to fall away.

But Phuket and the Andaman region remains dry and often sunny with intermittent storms, typical weather for this time of year.

Elsewhere, in central and northern Thailand, three months of heavy monsoon rains have killed 356 people and affected the lives of as many as nine million more.

Suvarnabhumi International Airport is today the important piece of infrastructure that Thai authorities must spare from flooding - or run the risk of losing the revenue stream that tourism will provide to ameliorate the economic disaster of the flooding.

Surrounded by a 3.5 metre earthen floodwall, Suvarnabhumi seems safe, even though it was built on reclaimed marshes.

With increasing numbers of flights direct to Phuket in coming months from places as widely diverse as Copenhagen and Beijing, Suvarnabhumi is no longer as important as it once was to Phuket's future.

On the other hand, Phuket is now growing more important to Bangkok as the island and the surrounding Andaman region prepares for a December-April high season that will probably speed Thailand's recovery.