As weather clears, tourists head back to Patong Beach

After storms ripped through areas of Phuket earlier this week, tourists made their way back to Patong Beach yesterday as the weather cleared. The island province’s storm warnings have still not been lifted, though. Last week, the warnings had said that waves were 2-3 metres high in the Andaman Sea, and more than 3 metres high during thundershowers.

This news comes after Phuket dropped its outdoor face mask requirement yesterday, despite the Prime Minister saying two days ago that there are NO plans to do so. This is now one more thing beach-goers don’t have to worry about.

At the beach yesterday, lifeguards marked yellow flags in safe swimming zones, and red flags in dangerous swimming zones. The yellow zones were marked close to the shore, where the lifeguards could keep watch on tourists. For the past week, local tour boats have only been operating on nearby islands such as Koh Lone, Racha Yai, Naka Yai, and Koh Hei, off Phuket’s east coast.

Who knows how long the clear weather in Phuket will last. Earlier this week, a series of wind squalls, preceding heavy rain, hit parts of the tourist island. One of the spots hit by some sudden wind blasts yesterday was the Kata Karon Food Festival on the island’s west coast. Photos by The Phuket Express show chairs, tents, and rubbish strewn across Karon Park.

Meanwhile, the wind caused palm trees to fall on cables in Phuket’s southeast village of Rawai, sending 5 power poles crashing down on a road. Trees also fell on 2 houses in Thalang district, and one tree also fell on roadside cables there. Luckily, no injuries were reported in any of the incidents.

SOURCE: The Phuket News