Thai villagers transport their belongings on a flooded street today in Pathum Thani province, central Thailand. Fear and confusion grips Bangkok as residents worry about historic floods in Thailand.

BANGKOK — Fear and confusion gripped Bangkok today 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 nine million people.

The government sought to reassure residents that the Thai capital would be spared from the deluge that has submerged entire towns across the country’s central plains, devastated rice crops and shuttered hundreds of factories, noting that much of Bangkok sat behind a sturdy flood wall that has been reinforced in recent days.

“I insist that the floods will only affect outer Bangkok and will not be widespread in other areas,” Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said today.

Authorities have for days been warning that the flooding has reached crisis levels and that waters rushing from the north could combine with rains and high tides in the next few days to flood the capital. Some have said the rush of water would be so strong that authorities would be left with little choice but to watch the city drown.

But the message hasn’t always been clear, with some agencies, departments and officials contradicting others, sometimes in the same news conference.

Erroneous reports Thursday said floodwaters had broken through one key flood gate, leading one government minister to order residents in the area to urgently evacuate. The government later apologized for the “misinformation,” saying the evacuation order had been reversed and that damage to the gate had been overestimated.

The conflicting information has left many residents of Bangkok scratching their heads and wondering whether their neighborhoods are truly at risk — and if so how best to prepare. Many have been stocking up on bottled water, rice, instant noodles, medicine and other essentials, leading to shortages in some areas.