Motorists leave their cars parked on a ramp near a flooded street in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday. Bangkok Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra issued a dramatic warning to residents of the Thai capital to prepare for floodwaters to roll deeper into the city.

BANGKOK — The threat that floodwaters will inundate Thailand’s capital could ease by early November as record-high levels in the river carrying torrents of water downstream from the country’s north begin to decline, authorities said Sunday.

Bangkok’s immediate prospects remain uncertain, however, as the front lines in battling the flood draw tighter around the city daily.

The relatively rosy longer term projection from the Flood Relief Operations Center came just a day after reports that Bangkok’s main Chao Phraya river was overflowing its banks and at its highest levels in seven years.

People should not be too concerned because the spillover could be drained, said the center’s chief, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok. He also said water in an overflowing main canal in Bangkok was receding, and drainage efforts east and west of the city were working well.

The situation was dire in many respects in the capital’s northern outskirts and Thailand’s central provinces, which suffered the worst of the flooding after heavy monsoon rains since July. However, some badly hit provinces in the central rice-growing area are starting to recover.