Phuket forecast: heavy rain to continue through the weekend

PHUKET: Over the past 24 hours Phuket experienced the heaviest rains since the freak storms of last March, with reports all over the island of flooding and downed trees and power poles.

One of the heaviest hit areas was Patong, where knee deep water caused traffic jams along parts of Phang Muang Sai Kor road, especially near Patong Hospital and the Jungceylon complex.

Remarkably, the notorious stretch of Nanai Road nearby, that got the name “Nanai River” in recent years, was completely free of water thanks to a drainage project completed there by the municipality last year.

“They never really solved the problem, they just moved it from one place to another, but I am glad the road is passable today,” one expat resident told the Gazette this afternoon.

On Patong Hill, at least two of the heavy duty power pylons toppled near the Patong City welcome sign, though there were no reports of blackouts in Patong. There were also several minor landslides.

An officer at the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) at Phuket said 270.6mm of rainfall were recorded there over the 24-hour period starting at 3:40pm yesterday.

Rainfall amounts at other monitoring stations around the island indicated that windward areas on the west coast took the brunt of the rain:

Kamala: 217.0mm

Karon: 162.5mm

Pa Khlok: 87.0mm

Phuket Town: 32.8mm

The current forecast is for more of the same, heavy showers and strong winds, throughout the weekend.

An official warning issued at 7am today called for people in risk areas in Phuket, Ranong, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun to be prepared to evacuate in the event of flash flooding.

Wind-driven waves are as high as 4 meters in the Andaman Sea, so all shipping is advised to proceed with caution and small boats should keep ashore until conditions improve, according to the TMD.

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— Stephen Fein