Pattaya storm water drainage still lacking

PHOTO: Pattaya Mail

Good news that there’s little chance of rain for the rest of today but torrential rain last week tested the millions of baht spent on better storm drains around the city (forecast below).

But again, many areas of Pattaya were swamped after the heavy rains on September 26. Last week’s floods came despite huge expense and years of construction to install new drainage systems. But certain parts of the city clearly remain at high risk during the monsoon season and peak deluges.

Pattaya’s third Road is one such area and last week’s deluge saw water levels quickly rise up to 60 centimetres+ and cause a huge tailback of traffic on the city’s major thoroughfare.

Other parts of the town were similarly affected by floodwater run-off rushing down from higher areas. Sois Khao Noi and Khao Talo saw torrents of water flowing down to inundate the railway road while sections of Sukhumvit Road and Pattaya Beach Road were also submerged.

The new drainage works are perfectly capable of handling the general rains during the annual wet season but there are still times that the systems in place will never be able to cope.

City engineers rushed water pumps to the most badly affected areas last week and, as the Gulf tide receded, the floodwater eventually drained into the ocean, leaving businesses and citizens with a lot of cleaning up to do.

SOURCE: Pattaya Mail

GRAPHIC: weather.com