Rainy season blows in

PHUKET: The annual southwest monsoon has arrived, dumping millions of tons of water on Phuket yesterday and flooding part of Karon.

Chumnong Chitpukdee, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) Phuket told the Gazette today that more heavy rain can be expected in the coming few days, especially in the afternoons and evening – along with more flooding.

He said that the rain is unlikely to be heavy enough to cause landslides but warned people in exposed or landslide-risk areas to be on the alert nevertheless, and to listen to weather forecasts.

“Some areas such as Patong, Kata, and Karon may have to watch out for flooding because there is a lot of construction [in those places] that impedes drainage,” he added.

Heavy rain yesterday afternoon caused flooding to a depth of around 50 centimeters in the area around the Nong Harn Circle in Karon, making the area impassable to smaller vehicles.

Tawatchai Tongmang, Chief Officer (Palad) of Karon Municipality, blamed the flooding on insufficient drainage.

“The drains were incapable of channeling the rainwater into the sea, which was also high at the time, and it took us about two hours to clear it all out.

“Karon Municipality has had difficulties putting drains into this area because we need land to do this and land is extremely expensive here,” he explained.

“Thankfully, we do not have the worry about landslides in Karon,” he added.