Heavy thunderstorms in and around Pattaya yesterday caused major flooding and brought much of the resort town to a virtual standstill. The rains hit around 2pm and lasted for about 2 hours. The heaviest flooding was reported on Soi Khao Noi, Pattaya Beach Road, and Pattaya Third Road. A video of the flooding can be seen HERE.

Water on some road surfaces ranged from about 50 centimetres to over a metre deep. Traffic was backed up along major arteries for several hours. Traffic police were dispatched to multiple areas to restore order and help direct traffic.

A black sedan was reported stuck in a flash flood near the railway road and Soi Khao Talo, with the water level reportedly almost reaching its roof. The driver and the passenger were safely rescued with help from local residents and traffic police.

It took about an hour and a half after the rain stopped for the water level to fall to passable levels.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

A Russian woman who allegedly murdered her one year old daughter and then tried to kill herself by jumping from a third-floor balcony, is denying all charges against her. 33 year old Anna Efimova appeared at Pattaya Provincial Court to answer the charges when she claimed her husband forced her to kill the child.

However, police say there is nothing to suggest that a husband was present, with the woman’s landlord saying she checked in just 3 days prior with only her baby daughter. Police claim nobody else visited or stayed at the apartment. Police reviewed CCTV footage from the complex to verify the comings and goings to the apartment and complex, adding that they found nobody else at the scene of the crime.

Efimova initially told police her husband had killed the child, later changing her story. The findings of forensic investigators indicate the child died as a result of blunt force trauma, apparently from being swung repeatedly against the bathroom toilet. Police found the child’s body in the bathroom, covered with towels and pieces of the broken toilet.

The child’s mother had jumped from the third floor in an apparent suicide attempt but sustained only minor injuries. Police confiscated marijuana found in the apartment, along with two bags of white powder )being tested for the presence of illegal narcotics). The woman has been discharged from the hospital and is now in police custody facing multiple charges, while officials attempt to contact her family.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

A heritage museum in Pattaya is blaming a “faulty pump” for the flow of black wastewater that was flowing into the coastline on the Pattaya beachfront at Wong Prachan Bay. The “Sanctuary of Truth Museum” VP denied that they’d intentionally allowed the dirty water onto the beach. But later the vice president of the Sanctuary of Truth, Warakorn Wiriyahan, added that the discharge seen in the Facebook post was “due to a problem with its wastewater treatment system”.

He added that heavy rains in Pattaya over the past week had “overwhelmed the system”.

“The water pumps installed to treat wastewater were faulty. That has now been fixed.”

The damning video was posted on Areerut Sinsupun’s Facebook account yesterday. It shows the black water flowing out of a drainage pipe onto the beach and into the sea.

The comments on the video were predictably savage and mostly urged the local Pattaya officials to do something about it.

“Been doing this for years”

“Broken pipe? Broken pipe for over 30 years. 😆😆😆“

“Covid 20”

Sanctuary of Truth Museum claims to house the world’s largest and most beautiful woodcarving. It appears to be less willing to share the ‘truth’.

Meanwhile, the Pattaya Municipality, in a rare moment of candor, shared the video on its own Facebook account. Comments mostly blamed the municipality for not checking the storm drains pumping ‘black water’ onto Pattaya’s beaches.

Magical ‘fixes’ are often claimed after these too-frequent videos appear on social media, until they re-occur, which is usually the case.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post