Am I Stranded In Phuket - Flood Conditions Driving Phuket To Bangkok

[SantiSuk]

Having driven all the way down here from Si Saket province last week and endured mostly monsoon days I hope to abort a 3 week holiday today (Tuesday).

But can I get the car back to Bangkok at least? Flooding (landslide?) reports please on the following route:

402 to Kok Loi

4 to Takua Pa (up the coast - daughter left an expensive jacket in hotel!)

401 across to Highway 41 near Surat Thani (yes I know the end of that route must be the particularly dodgy bit)

41 up from Surat through Chumpon (again dodgy according to the telly), Prachuap Khi Khan, Hua Hin

35 to Bangkok

I'll ask again (when and if we get to Bangkok) about highway 1, 2 and 24 to SiSaket.

[SantiSuk]

PS - it's a Fortuner so a foot or two is no problem!

[simon43]

I am between chumpon and surat right now. The main road is closed due to river flooding. I am going to turn around and try to go via ranong

Simon

[SantiSuk]

I am between chumpon and surat right now. The main road is closed due to river flooding. I am going to turn around and try to go via ranong

Simon

You may have a problem south of Ranong on Highway 4. We came that way last Thursday and there are 3 places where they are putting in new bridges over normally small streams. Can't remeber exactly where but between Ranong and Khapoe I think. I presume they are doing it in the dry season (ho ho!!) because the diverts are muddy drives over tiny temporary culverts. Anyway I saw pictures on the local TV 2 nights ago that looked very like same culverts and they were talking about Phang Nga province and Rayong. Pictures were of people looking at impassible torrents. I maybe wrong - can anyone living Rayong shed further light?

I may give this a try anyway from the South this afternoon (setting off from Phuket 11am and will check into internet again 1.00pm'ish). PM me your mobile and I'll let you know what I find out on the way up.

Edited March 29, 2011 by SantiSuk

[SantiSuk]

I am now in Khao Lak (2pm Tuesday) and the police here say that the bridge or bridges around Khapoe on highway 4 are broken - no surprise to me there; hopelessly under-engineered culvert diverts for such a main road. No way through between Phuket and Ranong.

The road to Surat from here is open but I suspect the flooding that Simon reports is the River Tapi close to Surat and Surat airport. If highway 41 is broken there then the South must be officially cut off from the north by road - and could be remaining that way for some days to come.

I shall now go back to the car and have a discussion with the family whether they want to sit it out in Kao Lak or go back to Patong (at least there is shopping there) or see if I can put them on a flight to Ubon.

Hope you did not go all the way down the blind alley that is highway 4 to Ranong Simon

PS - it's raining stairrods and has been for most of 3 days. The roads up to here have a lot of surface water and traffic is sensibly sticking to sub 80. There si flooding of all the small rivers but this southern part of Highway 4 seems under no immediate threat of flooding.

Edited March 29, 2011 by SantiSuk

[simon43]

I finally made it back to Krabi after a 12 hour journey from Chumpon!

I left Chumpon this morning at 6am, expecting to reach Krabi or Phuket in about 4 hours. But just before Surat Thani, the traffic came to a standstill because the river that crosses the main road was flooded and the road was closed. It took me another 2 hours before I was able to turn around and go back almost to Chumpon, where I took the mountain road across to Ranong. That was ok, but just before Ranong, the road was closed due to a landslide and I had to make a detour through palm plantations on a mud road!

Then, as I headed towards Phuket, the road was closed again and I detoured via Khao Sok national park. Then that road had fallen into the flooded river - so I had to make another detour almost in a complete circle back to just south of Surat Thani. Finally, after another 4 hours of driving, I was able to reach Krabi.

So, weather not so good.....

Simon

Edited March 29, 2011 by simon43

[SantiSuk]

Highway 41 was open today and we made it from KhaoLak to Surat to Prachuap Kiri Khan with no great difficulty.

Not pleasanrt around Surat - highway 41 is reasonably well elevated and I don't see it under much threat (though debris on the road shows it must have had flash flooding at some stage hence Simon' s report of road closure yesterday). Not pleaseant because you drive past lots of misery where people are standing around looking down on their flooded homes and businesses. Hope they dry out soon.

[IanForbes]

Thanks for the running update. I always say that anything that doesn't kill or maim you is a life time experience. Maybe one you don't want to relieve, but it is sure something to tell your grand kids. All my best stories are of things I don't want to repeat but gland they happened ONCE!

I was down in Kao Lak just before and just after the tsunami of 2004 and I'm sure lucky my daughter in Canada asked me to come home for Christmas, or I would be dead like the family I was staying with in December.