Worst cyclone in 60 years strikes two districts in Chiang Mai

CHIANGMAI, 6 May 2015 (NNT) – Chiang Mai Province has experienced its worst tropical storm in 60 years, which last night wrought extensive damage in two districts.

The storm last night caused large trees to fall on electricity poles, leading to an overnight blackout in many areas in the districts of Sansai and Doi Saket. Local authorities had to spend the whole night removing the fallen trees which not only disrupted the power supply but also blocked a road.

The cyclone also blew the roofs off more than 100 houses. Affected locals said the storm was the heaviest in the past 60 years, adding that their possessions were blown skywards and fell violently to the ground as they watched unable to intervene. A number of shops and advertising signs were also badly damaged.

The Chiang Mai provincial governor has instructed agencies in charge to assess the damage and provide immediate help to the villagers.

-- NNT 2015-05-06

Rained a bit for maybe 30 minutes in town. "Worst in 60 years"? I don't think so ;-)

Edited May 6, 201511 yr by Captain_Bob

Rained a bit for maybe 30 minutes in town. "Worst in 60 years"? I don't think so ;-)

This is Chiang Mai Province not Chiang Mai city. I have a friend who drove through this going south and he says trees were down everywhere. One completely blocked the road he was on, another was actually blown across the road well away from its roots.

//edit - he also saw a house with no roof on it from being blown off.

Likely microbursts from a local thunderstorm. This has been an active season so far with several trees uprooted in the hills above Mae Taeng.

Rained a bit for maybe 30 minutes in town. "Worst in 60 years"? I don't think so ;-)

I don't think "in town" is very close to San Sai & Doi Saket?

http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/summer-storms-hit-chiang-mai/

Rained a bit for maybe 30 minutes in town. "Worst in 60 years"? I don't think so ;-)

Then why are all my neighbour's roof tiles in my garden?

Rained a bit for maybe 30 minutes in town. "Worst in 60 years"? I don't think so ;-)

Then why are all my neighbour's roof tiles in my garden?

Because of high qualified and trained roofers.

They've used architect approved materials.

How about your roof tiles? Those are also in the garden of your neighbour?

Likely microbursts from a local thunderstorm. This has been an active season so far with several trees uprooted in the hills above Mae Taeng.

Yeah exactly we don't get cyclones here.

Mae Taeng got hit hard in places

Yeh im in Doi Saket. One of my plastic outdoor chairs fell over, but the other 3 chairs are ok. Also a water bottle left outside was about 5 meters from where I left it.

I pray to never have to go through this hell again.

Rained a bit for maybe 30 minutes in town. "Worst in 60 years"? I don't think so ;-)

Then why are all my neighbour's roof tiles in my garden?

Because of high qualified and trained roofers.

They've used architect approved materials.

Presumably all the uprooted trees didn't use architect approved materials either. Will admit that I'm not sure whether the concrete telegraph pole that snapped at the base was architect approved or not.

How about your roof tiles? Those are also in the garden of your neighbour?

No they're not, but then my house is protected on two sides by taller buildings.

Our muu baan got pretty messed up, it was definitely a micro burst though... high intensity and lasted 10 minutes max. Tones of trees down, concrete power pole snapped in half etc... Power gone for 6 hours and lots of clean up this morning.

One of our trees got flatten from top down, really strange... heavy pots filled with small trees and soil moved a few meters.

It was the strongest winds I've ever seen here. Rain flew by horizontally.

Great headlines once again from the crack TV meteorology crew.

"Cyclone"?

"Tropical storm"?

I am wondering about that thunderstorm that occurred 60 years ago as well. I am certain they kept excellent records on that date and the affected locals would have clear and accurate recollections that would clearly show that yesterday's thunderstorm was 'worse'.

Most cyclones in Australia loose momento once they track inland away from the coast and are quickly downgraded from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 and then to a rain bearing deppression and there can be plenty of rain and nt so much rain. Do they rate coclones in Thailand this way???

Firstly, it was a tropical storm, not a cyclone.

Secondly, cyclones occur only in the southern hemisphere, they are called typhoons in the northern hemisphere.

A few years ago I was working in the Nth Queensland region of Australia when cyclone Yasi hit....... 6 hrs huddled in the hallway with my wife and two sons under a mattress. I should send the the meteoroligists a dictionary and some aftermath photos.

Yeh im in Doi Saket. One of my plastic outdoor chairs fell over, but the other 3 chairs are ok. Also a water bottle left outside was about 5 meters from where I left it.

I pray to never have to go through this hell again.

Thanks for the laugh. I agree, some folks like to exaggerate.

A few years ago I was working in the Nth Queensland region of Australia when cyclone Yasi hit....... 6 hrs huddled in the hallway with my wife and two sons under a mattress. I should send the the meteoroligists a dictionary and some aftermath photos.

I was living in Cairns at the time ... Yasi was a bad one.

Thailand does not get many typhoons, and most of them are only Cat 2-3.

If a Cat 5 Yasi-type typhoon hit Thailand, I hate to think of the level of destruction.

Since the 1990s all new buildings in Far North Queensland had to meet minimum construction standards to withstand at least a Cat 4 (I think) cyclone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microburst

Have a read, explains the horizontal rain and the relatively short period of time it lasted for. Also why all the trees around the surrounding areas were blown in different directions and the bird I found flattened (not from being run over).

<snip> cyclones occur only in the southern hemisphere, they are called typhoons in the northern hemisphere.

Incorrect - they can be called cyclones in the northern hemisphere, ie anything in the Indian Ocean (whether north or south of the equator) is referred to as a Cyclone.

Typhoons & Hurricanes are only labelled as such in the northern hemisphere - but cyclones can occur in both depending on the region (not the hemisphere)

It was the strongest winds I've ever seen here. Rain flew by horizontally.

Just faulty gravity. It will be fixed shortly.

All jokes aside... We live in Sansai. The wind came from the North at a very high speed and blew a large branch from a tree against the office window and smashed the window. The rain came in through the broken window and literally soaked our office including two laser printers and a scanner, modem, etc. It blew the curtains and the rod right off the wall. I dried everything as best as I could, put fans on them overnight, etc. . The following day I powered up the modem and it worked just fine but one printer was down and there was water inside the bed of the scanner. Took them both to the shop today. We had 3 adult trees blown over... Altogether - perhaps 20-25,000 Baht in damage.

It did a lot of damage in my area also. It destroyed my metal greenhouse and knocked down several trees.

the wind came from all 4 directions one right after another. It was like tornado for about 15 minutes

<snip> cyclones occur only in the southern hemisphere, they are called typhoons in the northern hemisphere.

Incorrect - they can be called cyclones in the northern hemisphere, ie anything in the Indian Ocean (whether north or south of the equator) is referred to as a Cyclone.

Typhoons & Hurricanes are only labelled as such in the northern hemisphere - but cyclones can occur in both depending on the region (not the hemisphere)

Hi Argus Tuft,

My apologies for the incorrect information.

I sit corrected (hard to stand and type!!!)

Best wishes.

Jim

Sorry to hear about that, Elektrified.

Similar to the microburst that went thru Ban Mae Hangdong Sanpatong on 9th April. Many had said never seen anything like it before.