South Thailand Hit By Worst Rain in 300 Years

[PeterRS]

Reports indicate that the south of the country has been hit by its worst rainfall in 300 years. Ten Provinces have been hit with the city of Hat Yai being the worst. It experienced 335 mm in a single day. Desperate residents are perched on rooftops. More than 2 million peope have been affected.  Military ships including an aircraft carrier with supplies, a flotilla of boats and rescue helicopters have been mobiised to help residents. 33 have aleady died.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg97wx144jo

Hat Yai: photo Weerapong Narongkul Bangkok Post

[Keithambrose]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Reports indicate that the south of the country has been hit by its worst rainfall in 300 years. Ten Provinces have been hit with the city of Hat Yai being the worst. It experienced 335 mm in a single day. Desperate residents are perched on rooftops. More than 2 million peope have been affected.  Military ships including an aircraft carrier with supplies, a flotilla of boats and rescue helicopters have been mobiised to help residents. 33 have aleady died.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg97wx144jo

Hat Yai: photo Weerapong Narongkul Bangkok Post

I took off from Suvarnabhumi on Monday, and after about 5 mins, all you could see was flooding everywhere,  it went on for many miles, roads disappeared,  isolated patches of high  ground. Odd houses, otherwise just water. 

[llz]

Five minutes after taking off from Suwannaphum, you were not flying above Hat Yai for sure.

What you saw was the Central plains where the situation on the ground is now much less critical than it seems when looking from above. 

 

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

I took off from Suvarnabhumi on Monday, and after about 5 mins, all you could see was flooding everywhere,  it went on for many miles, roads disappeared,  isolated patches of high  ground. Odd houses, otherwise just water. 

Agree with @llz. Unless you were flying due south for at least 30 minutes, it would have been impossible to see the flooding in the south. To the north of Bangkok there is a much lesser degree of flooding after the Chao Phraya dischage rate was increased. Even though that took place three months ago, some parts of Ayutthaya Province remain under some water.

[khaolakguy]

Truly dreadful floods in the south. The video gives a sense of the scale.

https://youtu.be/9UiqmID9dxM

 

[mauRICE]

These photos were taken by friends who live or are on holiday in Hatyai. My family home and farm are only a two-hour drive away but we're on high ground. The flooding has been going on for five consecutive days affecting 690,000 people in Hatyai alone but Anutin only woke up to the magnitude of this disaster yesterday. Meanwhile, volunteer rescue missions from Malaysia and Singapore have been going in since last Sunday.

The upcoming SEA Games events that  have been scheduled in Songkhla will likely be relocated to Bangkok and Chonburi.

Here's a sample of the kind of messages I've been receiving from friends stranded there. The last bit reads like an excerpt from Anne Frank.

23.28 น. ตอนนี้ก็ยังนั่งอยู่ที่บ้าน รอเรืออพยพ พร้อมๆกับเพื่อนบ้านทั้งซอย11/1และซ.12ที่รอคอยกันอย่างมีความหวังว่ามีเรือมาช่วย โดยเฉพาะซ.12 ที่แม้กระทั่งเสียงเป่านกหวีดขอความช่วยเหลือยังดังแบบระโหยโรยแรง คนเป่าคงหมดแรง ตอนนี้ทุกคนในซอยไม่มีใครกล้านอนสักคน คอยเงี่ยหูฟังเสียงเรือกันทุกบ้าน สลับกันตื่นมาสอดส่อง ตอนนี้ระดับน้ำอยู่ที่ขั้นบันไดเหลืออีก5ขั้นจะขึ้นถึงชั้น2 ยังรอคอยกันต่อไป 

11:28 PM. I'm still sitting at home, waiting for the evacuation boat, along with neighbors in both Soi 11/1 and Soi 12, who are all waiting with hope for a boat to arrive. In Soi 12, especially, even the whistle for help is becoming faint. The whistler must be exhausted. No one in the alley dares to sleep. Everyone is listening carefully for the boat's sound, taking turns waking up to keep an eye out. The water level is now at the top of the stairs, with five steps left to reach the second floor. We're still waiting.