Who’ll stop the rain?
PHUKET CITY: Heavy rains today has caused flooding and traffic jams in some areas, but thus far there have been no reports of landslides or serious damage.
A two-hour downpour starting about 10 am left Phra Phuket Kaew Rd near the Tesco-Lotus intersection under about half a meter of water, resulting in a tailback all the way to Kathu. Other parts of the intersection remained passable.
Aroon Kerdsom, who heads the provincial branch of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), told the Gazette his office had yet to receive any reports of landslides.
DDPM-Phuket workers helped three families living on Koktanode Rd in Kata move their bedding up to the second floor after the ground floor became flooded under about 60 centimeters of floodwater, he said.
Wiwat Intarapanich, Chief of Weather Forecasting at the Meteorological Department office near the airport, told the Gazette that rainfall this wet season has exceeded those in 2005 and 2006.
Rainfall is expected to taper off by mid-November, he said.
All the rain is of little use this time of year because all the island’s supply sources are already full to capacity, he added.
“It would be a real boon for Phuket if rains continue into late-November and December,” he said.
The start of November usually sees a huge influx of tourist arrivals, increasing demand for water at the same time that rainfall begins to taper off at the start of the dry season.
