Floods Batter Thailand's South

[Willeyeam]

Anyone know if Samui airport has reopened? I can't get through.

Edit: They've updated their website, will be closed until 8pm. I presume this is a rolling update and they are likely to keep pushing it back for a while yet.

Didn't see the EDIT, apologies!

Edited November 2, 2010 by Willeyeam

[Thunder26]

For Hatyai they warned. This happened in 1989 but still nothing has been done to clear the waterways. It will happen again too if they do not sort out the drainage problems. Hatyai is in a basin and all the runoff from outlaying districts finally makes its way there. In 1989 there were pigs and buffaloes floating in the city which had been washed in by the strong currents. The road in front of the railway station was under about 2 meters of water.

It was a horrible experience then and I am sure it will be this time. People did tend to look out for each other though and those in need were helped. I certainly hope that there is a silver lining to this cloud.

Agreed, but the rainfall was much worse than in the past. In less than 24 hours has rained 358mm over Songkla, add another day and it will be above 500 mm in two days. Same story is for Hat Yai where it rained above 400 mm in 2 days. There is no system in the world to prevent flooding from such amount of rain. The amount of rain is unbelievable. So far they report one fatal casualty in Surat Thani which was hit less harsh. I guarantee there will be towards 100 at the end of this affair.

[Mosha]

Sky has been a horrible colour in Ranong all day. No wind just heavy rain.

[Crushdepth]

What does get at me is the amount of people trying to contact road/rail/travel links, when they know that the place is a disaster, what is the point, just wait a little, stay where you are, nothing is moving

This may seem like a good idea but I'm staying in a bamboo hut and think it is probably a better idea to leave :-) Consuming a bit of bandwidth to get out of the way while it is still possible is a reasonable use of resources, particularly when you already have a booking to depart.

What would be helpful (at least to people who still have internet) is if said transport links would update their websites with some honest information like 'there is no way in hel_l we will be operating tomorrow' instead of the completely useless 'check back again in 2 hours' which will just keep people up all night :-)

Edited November 2, 2010 by Crushdepth

[bobbysan124]

Hope these poor people are able to recover as quickly as possible and that there are no more fatalities. Terrible situation.

[george]

Two dead, 2 missing in southern floods; 4 southern provinces declare disaster zones

SONGKHLA, Nov 2 – At least two persons were killed and two others are missing after severe floods hit Thailand’s southern provinces.

Pattani, Phatthalung, Songkhla and Surat Thani provinces declared major disaster zones as rain continues and floodwaters continue to rise.

One person in Songkhla’s Tha Kian community died in a flood-related electrocution and another died in Pattani, where two persons, including a child swept away by the torrent, are missing.

In Songkha’s Hat Yai, flood water is some two metres deep in low-lying areas. Roads leading to Hat Yai have been cut, with only large boats and four-wheel drive vehicles able to reach the some areas.

Numbers of local residents called the disaster services hotline 1784 for the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation seeking help. Some have been stranded in their homes and some asked for instant food products. Officials sent flat-bottomed boats to help them, but help and coordination is difficult and slow as the telephone system has been disrupted.

Deputy Interior Minister Thavorn Senneam inspected the rising waters in Hat Yai municipality and surrounding areas by helicopter and will report to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, scheduled to visit the city to help flood victims Tuesday.

The public health ministry assessed the flood in 33 provinces, the most critical being Songkhla where three medical centres, Hat Yai, Sadao and Na Thawi Hospitals were flooded and temporarily closed outpatient services, and Na Thawi carried medical services into its district office.

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said the the ministry set up ‘war rooms’ at Hat Yai hospital, while health workers provide treatment to villagers by mobile medical unit and makeshift offices outside flooded areas.

Hat Yai Hopital has 559 inpatients including 70 cases in critical condition and on respirator. Eight patients were airlifted to Songklanagarind Hospital. Songklanagarind Hospital and Phatthalung Hospital will supply submerged Hat Yai Hospital with food, patients’ clothes and medical equipment. The Public Health Ministry sent 57,500 sets of medicine to five southern

provinces.

Meanwhile, Phatthalung has declared 11 districts of the province as disaster zones after overnight heavy rainfall. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 residents affected by floods.

Some 70,000 rai (nearly 28,000 acres) of rice crops were submerged and a number of orchards and rubber plantations were damaged by the tropical depression Monday night as well.

Moreover, flash floods from Tamot and Kong Ra districts rapidly hit Chaison district on Tuesday, forcing residents to move to stay at relief shelters on roads.

Civil servants and soldiers braced for possible inundation in the provinces, especially municipal schools and hospitals. Sandbags walls were used to prevent floodwaters entering Phatthalung Hospital. Workers also installed a water pump and moved important medical equipment and supplies to higher ground.

Surat Thani designated its 19 districts as disaster zones affected by floods. A number of roads, bridges have been severe damaged and cut off. Currently, officials involving in disaster mitigation were trying to help and evacuate residents in at-risk areas to safe places because the water from the mountain range continues flowing into the areas.

Chumphon governor Pinit Chareonpanich met with 1,000 sub-district and village chiefs and local government officials to map out measures in preparation for possible flash floods, large-scale forest run-off and landslides due to heavy rain from the storm.

The meeting followed the Meteorological Department’s warning for provincial disaster-related agencies to prepare for the impacts from the tropical storm currently covering the South of Thailand.

In Narathiwat province, the inundation affected 12 districts owing to incessant rain, 54 sub-districts and 42,400 people.

More than 3,200 rai (about 1,300 acres) of rice crops, rubber trees and fruit orchards were damaged, as well as 25 bridges.

Public Health Ministry mobile medical units treated 294,496 patients in flood-stricken areas from October 20 to November 1, with 110, 794 experiencing athlete’s foot. Health workers distributed 873,700 sets of medicine to flooded provinces.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry reported 1,377 schools damaged by floods and 592 schools postponed opening the new semester. Damage amounted to Bt180 million (US$6 million).

In Songkhla where the latest flooding occurred, 17 schools remain closed due to flooding. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2010-11-02

[animatic]

Now the power base of the DP is inconvenienced, 20 Billion baht can be spend. When Izan was flooded Abhisit did not even had the courtesy or should I say decency to stay in the country and went with his Burmese buddies to vietnam. Abhisit has a lot to learn from the Indonesian president, albeit there is a slight difference, Yudhoyono was democratically elected and thus need to serve his people. Let see if now also 90% of the flood aid is stolen by the likes of Newin and Sanan, my guess is that it will be just 70%.

All this misery and you all you red shirts can do is attack the government. You like Deeral, need help. ( I presumed you are not mentally challenged if so my apologies)

I can do no more for the people than pray for them and that I will do. I inquired if there was any thing here in Chiang Mai to help out and apparently there is nothing.

Try giving them some money. That usually does the trick.

Real sad commentary on your mindset, you reinforce the bad Red myth..

Hat Yai is in real trouble and like he DID do in OTHER northern towns

Abhisit went in person to look. I saw several pictures of him wading

through knee deep water inspecting the situation in NORTHERN towns.

I think you really need to get a life. You have a PM you clearly haven't the

balanced point of view to truly deserve. But he will work for you even if you hate him.

I remember Thaksin blowing off Surat Thani totally till it was an official disaster area in 2005.

But Abhisit is made of better stuff than that.

[xtr3mx7]

Hi, does anyone know how I could get in touch with people in Hat Yai? I have relatives there, but haven't been able to get a hold of them by phone.

Thank you!

Flood centre in Hat Yai call 074 200 000, 074 200 007 or Hotline 1559

Thank you for the numbers, we couldn't reach out our family in Songkhla. Hope they're fine.

Edited November 2, 2010 by xtr3mx7

[ritchienewton]

I spoke to a UK mate of mine who lives in Lamai in Samui about an hour ago, he said rds still flooded & they have had no power since 11pm last night, i got through to him OK on the mobile.

He also said it was still raining but has eased up a bit.

Rain stopped in lamai,power is back as well

[gazz]

Any idea if the storms are headed my way? [Chumphon] Thanks!

Here's a link worth watching in the event anyone is not already aware:

http://www2.tmd.go.th/radar/cmpLoop.php

(click on Chumphon and then Phuket to get an animated perspective)

[Willeyeam]

What does get at me is the amount of people trying to contact road/rail/travel links, when they know that the place is a disaster, what is the point, just wait a little, stay where you are, nothing is moving

This may seem like a good idea but I'm staying in a bamboo hut and think it is probably a better idea to leave :-) Consuming a bit of bandwidth to get out of the way while it is still possible is a reasonable use of resources, particularly when you already have a booking to depart.

What would be helpful (at least to people who still have internet) is if said transport links would update their websites with some honest information like 'there is no way in hel_l we will be operating tomorrow' instead of the completely useless 'check back again in 2 hours' which will just keep people up all night :-)

Probably not the highest priority at the minute...they will be needing to make arrangements for a bit of Tam Boen and some free handout Lucky Bags, that have been donated by some good hearted people, or just some looking to suck a bit of merit, that will nevertheless have been well and truly pilfered by the time they receive it! - 5KG of rice....victims receive 1KG, decent blankets replaced by polythene sheets, don't laugh, it happened up here a couple of years back. The 500 Baht or so donation ended up as a kilo of out of date rice full of weevils, and some 2nd rate shit! (They even stole the toilet paper!)

[goonerone]

I live in Bangrak, the power came on about an hour ago rain has stopped and winds have died down some roads are still flooded but conditions are not as bad as its made out to be

[cyb]

I live in Bangrak, the power came on about an hour ago rain has stopped and winds have died down some roads are still flooded but conditions are not as bad as its made out to be

I spoke to my wife and daughter about an hour ago just as the power came back on in Lamai beach area.

[animatic]

Rain screaming down now and lighting and roof shaker thunder.

It's not over tonight, and Thursday should be pretty poor too if

Wind guru is half accurate, it was pretty on the mark today.

[Gulfsailor]

I live in Bangrak, the power came on about an hour ago rain has stopped and winds have died down some roads are still flooded but conditions are not as bad as its made out to be

I spoke to my wife and daughter about an hour ago just as the power came back on in Lamai beach area.

Here in Chaweng the power also came back on around 2 hours ago. But it just started to thunderstorm now, with very heavy rain. I don't think the flooding will be gone anytime soon. Also worry that we will loose electricity again soon.. Fingers crossed...

[Judy Khoo]

Chaweng's and Choeng Mon's out again.

[mkawish]

Animatic is in Samui, I believe.

And the general opinion I hear is at least Southerners haven't been forced to wait a week for government aid as happened in the major flooding of 2000.

With the prices of rubber and palm products at their all time high,

most unaffected southerners are happily shopping at Tesco and Robinson.

It was full house today at many of the unaffected local Tesco stores.

Flooding is a terrible disaster. Only second to fire.

Are Thaivisa doing anything for the unfortunates? Or are we on a higher unaffected moral ground?

Or are we just reporting human sufferings without really being concerned and effected?

I saw several farangs soaking wet helping the affected thai moving everything in sight onto other safer areas.

Bravo. May the Almighty God multiply your abundant blessings.

[phiphidon]

Now the power base of the DP is inconvenienced, 20 Billion baht can be spend. When Izan was flooded Abhisit did not even had the courtesy or should I say decency to stay in the country and went with his Burmese buddies to vietnam. Abhisit has a lot to learn from the Indonesian president, albeit there is a slight difference, Yudhoyono was democratically elected and thus need to serve his people. Let see if now also 90% of the flood aid is stolen by the likes of Newin and Sanan, my guess is that it will be just 70%.

All this misery and you all you red shirts can do is attack the government. You like Deeral, need help. ( I presumed you are not mentally challenged if so my apologies)

I can do no more for the people than pray for them and that I will do. I inquired if there was any thing here in Chiang Mai to help out and apparently there is nothing.

Try giving them some money. That usually does the trick.

Real sad commentary on your mindset, you reinforce the bad Red myth..

Hat Yai is in real trouble and like he DID do in OTHER northern towns

Abhisit went in person to look. I saw several pictures of him wading

through knee deep water inspecting the situation in NORTHERN towns.

I think you really need to get a life. You have a PM you clearly haven't the

balanced point of view to truly deserve. But he will work for you even if you hate him.

I remember Thaksin blowing off Surat Thani totally till it was an official disaster area in 2005.

But Abhisit is made of better stuff than that.

I didn't want to do this under these problematical times but you have left me no option. Where do you think the north of Thailand is? Abhisit was pictured ankle deep (it depends how tall you are) in flood waters in Lop Buri approximately 150Kms north of Bangkok. That may be north of Bangkok but it's certainly not Northern Thailand.

[Malpal]

I managed to contact my girlfriend in Hat yai at about 8.00am this morning.<BR>She is stranded on the first floor of her house with 2 young children, no power, little food and water, and little money.<BR>She said the water was about 2 metres and still rising. What can I do???<BR>Can anyone update me on the situation.?

[lonelyrobot]

My girlfriend's stuck in an apartment block in the centre of hat yai, no electricity and very little food or water and the mobile networks are down ... does anyone know how long this is meant to last for? or have any idea how i might be able to check she's ok? There's been practically zero coverage of this over in the UK

[diehard60]

Surat Thani incl. Samui and Phangan a disaster zone

Surat Thani provincial governor Thirayuth Aiumtrakul has on Tuesday afternoon declared 16 districts flood disaster zones, including the tourist islands of Samui and Pha Ngan. The districts are Muang, Kanchanadit, Don Sak, Pun Pin, Tha Chang, Chaiya, Tha Chana, Ban Nasarn, Viangsra, Prasaeng, Chai Buri, Khirirat Nilhom, Vibhavadee Rangsit, Phanom, Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan, the reports said.

/via Bangkok Post

Well? No one is going to blame this on the Red Shirts? Why not you all blame them for everything else that goes bad in thailand.

[webfact]

Related topic

FLASH FLOODS

Hat Yai emergency overwhelms flood relief efforts

Follow this link:

[Crushdepth]

If you are trying to get somewhere:

* TAT's situation update for the southern Gulf (a far more coherent summary than the papers have been able to produce)

* Wind, wave and rain forecasts at Windguru

* Significant wave heights

* Synoptic chart

Edited November 3, 2010 by Crushdepth

[webfact]

South Thailand Floods Reports - LIVE updates Wednesday

Follow this link:

[housepainter]

What do you expect?

They never invest in infra structure other than botch and bodge. The monies are constantly diverted to the pockets of those dark and infleuntial figures. This kind of meltdown rehearsal is the result.

Until people vote with their feet then it will continue it's downward spiral into chaos.

Personally, I don't mind witnessing it as with the demise of the corrupt then perhaps something may be improved.

Just don't hold your breath any time soon.

[Jowels]

Have just spoken with my wife. She has a small shop in Niphat Uthit 4 in Hat Yai, close to the JB Hotel. Last night she had 1.5m of water, but now it's all gone and the nearby roads are clear. She's only 30m from a large klong in one of the areas that was worst hit in the floods of 2000. Hopefully other areas in the city are also clear.

[MikeyIdea]

Surat Thani incl. Samui and Phangan a disaster zone

Surat Thani provincial governor Thirayuth Aiumtrakul has on Tuesday afternoon declared 16 districts flood disaster zones, including the tourist islands of Samui and Pha Ngan. The districts are Muang, Kanchanadit, Don Sak, Pun Pin, Tha Chang, Chaiya, Tha Chana, Ban Nasarn, Viangsra, Prasaeng, Chai Buri, Khirirat Nilhom, Vibhavadee Rangsit, Phanom, Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan, the reports said.

/via Bangkok Post

Well? No one is going to blame this on the Red Shirts? Why not you all blame them for everything else that goes bad in thailand.

Anyone who blames the red skirts or the current government for the flood crisis have pathetically low knowledge about what flood prevention projects mean. They are long term and takes several to many years to implement.

We can however blame the Thaksin government for not starting flood prevention projects during his time as prime minister in the early to mid 2000s, they would soon be ready, had he started any... Fact is that politicians in Thailand don't benefit from starting projects costing billions and billions of bath that another prime minister in the future will reap the benefit of. Blame is as usual a useless problem solver. The only one I know of who has been pushing flood control in a truly long term way the last 30-40 years is the King of Thailand.

Still, with the rains that have fallen in the South, no flood prevention would be effective. This is the tropics after all and all the effort even a unified country can muster will not have any real impact when nature decides to play tough. We are and have always been at the mercy of nature. Some seem to be slow to realise it but we will always be at the mercy of nature. We can improve situations - which takes years of planning and implementation - but we can never prevent natural disasters.

Let's hope that there will be a prime minister in Thailand who in a truly unselfish way will start big flood control projects that someone else will finish.

[caf]

"Let's hope that the previous governments started projects that the current government can complete or if the previous governments did not start projects, the current government does - projects that future governments will complete"

So you are really saying that you don't know what previous governments did.

No point then, is there, in automatically blaming the reds.

Will be a brave man who reins in corruption. Hasn't happened yet.

[caf]

Now the power base of the DP is inconvenienced, 20 Billion baht can be spend. When Izan was flooded Abhisit did not even had the courtesy or should I say decency to stay in the country and went with his Burmese buddies to vietnam. Abhisit has a lot to learn from the Indonesian president, albeit there is a slight difference, Yudhoyono was democratically elected and thus need to serve his people. Let see if now also 90% of the flood aid is stolen by the likes of Newin and Sanan, my guess is that it will be just 70%.

All this misery and you all you red shirts can do is attack the government. You like Deeral, need help. ( I presumed you are not mentally challenged if so my apologies)

I can do no more for the people than pray for them and that I will do. I inquired if there was any thing here in Chiang Mai to help out and apparently there is nothing.

Try giving them some money. That usually does the trick.

Real sad commentary on your mindset, you reinforce the bad Red myth..

Hat Yai is in real trouble and like he DID do in OTHER northern towns

Abhisit went in person to look. I saw several pictures of him wading

through knee deep water inspecting the situation in NORTHERN towns.

I think you really need to get a life. You have a PM you clearly haven't the

balanced point of view to truly deserve. But he will work for you even if you hate him.

I remember Thaksin blowing off Surat Thani totally till it was an official disaster area in 2005.

But Abhisit is made of better stuff than that.

Jayjay is missing seeking asylum's point. Much of the money sent would not end up in aid. Thailand was ever thus.

[Deeral]

Flood control and irrgation projects take many years to complete. The only government during the last 10 years that can't be blamed for the lack of flood control is the current one, guess you do don't know that.

Let's hope that the previous governments started projects that the current government can complete or if the previous governments did not start projects, the current government does - projects that future governments will complete

Most of the causes of extra flooding result not only from the rainfall - which may or may not be with predictable parameters - but also by man made problems. Clearing of land for agriculture and building and other development if done without appropriate infrastructure will reduced the land's ability to absorb extra water and then it will need facilities to drain.

The weather patterns in thailand are actually quite predictable, what successive governments have failed to do it develop in a way that accounts for increased run-off.

the current government was aware of the potential dangers resulting from flooding yet failed to act with aid etc in BOTH areas. It has already received criticism for the tardy and insubstantial initial responses.