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.

[PeterRS]

7 hours ago, khaolakguy said:

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

https://youtu.be/9UiqmID9dxM

 

That vdo is absolutely horrible. My heart goes out to all whose homes have been flooded and familes who have lost loved ones. I have a Thai friend whose home was flooded for 3 months during the massive flooding in parts of Bangkok in 2011. It took weeks afterwards to render his ground floor habitable again. 13.6 million people were affected by those floods.

[jimmie50]

So terrible.  Cannot believe this is the second year in a row they have had to endure such horrible conditions.  Devastating.  

[floridarob]

A few degrees of warming doesn’t sound like much, but in the ocean it’s catastrophic — warmer water holds less oxygen, fuels massive algal blooms, and creates over 500 growing ‘dead zones’ where nothing can survive. Oceans absorb 90% of the excess heat we create, and even a 1–2°C rise collapses ecosystems. The Earth will eventually adapt and reset, but humans won’t. The planet isn’t dying — we are 🥺
 

[mauRICE]

21 minutes ago, floridarob said:

The planet isn’t dying — we are 🥺
 

But thanks to Pattaya, the dead live again! 

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, floridarob said:

The planet isn’t dying — we are 🥺
 

we do, even without global warming

[mauRICE]

On 11/27/2025 at 1:27 AM, mauRICE said:

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.

Some good news. My friend and her elderly father have been rescued and taken to a shelter. Both are fine. But many others are waiting to be rescued or for supplies. Every life is precious and I can't imagine the toll this disaster has taken on the livestock, pets and strays. 

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, mauRICE said:

 I can't imagine the toll this disaster has taken on the livestock, pets and strays. 

strays are in the best position to escape  as likely they are not tied to anything and their instinct told them to run away

[PeterRS]

Rainfall in the south of Thailand is far from uncommon even into the middle of December. I recall a 5 night stay in Phuket in mid-December 1996 when it poured with rain every day.

[mauRICE]

Some pictures of my friend's cosmetics shop in central Hatyai after the flood. It's completely destroyed, including stocks stored in the shop. She and her family have worked very hard to establish the business. Her home several kilometres away is also badly damaged and inhabitable at the moment. They've got insurance and the capital to rebuild - which will take months - but many others don't. Small to medium enterprises like theirs have been among the hardest hit. November and December have traditionally been the busiest months in Hatyai being the Malaysian and Singaporean school holidays and now they've lost all potential business. Hopefully they'll be able to get something going by Chinese New Year in mid February next year.

The first pic was taken before the flood.

[floridarob]

When I moved out out Houston to Mexico, I had many of my belongings in a storage facility, Houston flooded and that's pretty much what all the storage places looked like.

I know the feeling of losing so much and the only insurance I had was a small policy provided by the storage facility, so a pretty big loss.....🥺

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, floridarob said:

When I moved out out Houston to Mexico, I had many of my belongings in a storage facility, Houston flooded and that's pretty much what all the storage places looked like.

I know the feeling of losing so much and the only insurance I had was a small policy provided by the storage facility, so a pretty big loss.....🥺

I wanted to say that nature helped you to dispose things you did not really need but decided not to as it would sound to cruel.

Lady above case is bit different as she seemed to lose her means of living  , at least for a while.

My grandparents lost their farm  to floods twice  in spam of 10 years ( 1960 and 1970) while I was vacationing there and I remember my wise Grandmother reflection surveying the looses after 2nd flood  - "that's the price of living next to country's biggest river "   

[fedssocr]

it's all very sad. I didn't realize that Hat Yai is below sea level.

Large parts of Sri Lanka under water at the moment too and Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines with major floods too

[Keithambrose]

8 hours ago, mauRICE said:

Some pictures of my friend's cosmetics shop in central Hatyai after the flood. It's completely destroyed, including stocks stored in the shop. She and her family have worked very hard to establish the business. Her home several kilometres away is also badly damaged and inhabitable at the moment. They've got insurance and the capital to rebuild - which will take months - but many others don't. Small to medium enterprises like theirs have been among the hardest hit. November and December have traditionally been the busiest months in Hatyai being the Malaysian and Singaporean school holidays and now they've lost all potential business. Hopefully they'll be able to get something going by Chinese New Year in mid February next year.

The first pic was taken before the flood.

Really brings home the personal losses and total destruction. 

[PeterRS]

9 hours ago, fedssocr said:

it's all very sad. I didn't realize that Hat Yai is below sea level.

The average elevation of Hat Yai is 47 meters. But that no doubt means some parts are closer to sea level. On the other hand, few cities anywhere can withstand 335 mms of rain in a single day, the more so when it comes on top of continuous rain over several previous days when the ground was already saturated. Total rainfall over the three days culminating in the worst rainfall amounted to 630mm (25 inches). Water flowing down from nearby saturated hills made everything worse. Even in Bangkok drainage in certain parts of the city cannot handle anything that amount of rainfall. It would result in major flooding.

33,000 homes, 5 hospitals, 58 schools and 700 kms of road have been damaged according to Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/weve-lost-everything-how-floods-devastated-one-thailands-largest-cities-2025-11-28/#:~:text="It was all caused by,years%2C resulting in catastrophic floods.

[durian]

Had I not broken my collar bone four months ago, I would be in Hat Yai on a Non O visa by now with a yearly rental on a condo.

Everything was in place, the visa, the condo, tickets and transport and then bang, I went down like a bowling pin and broke my collar bone three weeks before I was due to travel.

I've watched the event unfold from Penang where I am currently enjoying a visa medical extension.

I'm not sure how I would have coped had I found myself there as planned, this has been a truly devastating time for the south.

I'm currently wondering if HY is the best place to retire to, I'm heading for 70, I know this type of event doesn't happen every year but it has and probably will happen again.  

The heartbreaking videos of the flood and now the clean up makes me wonder where people get thier strength from 

I also note that typically, it didn't take long for the blame game to begin on the socials about who should have done what and when...

The reason for wanting to be in Hat Yai is that my hubby is from Penang and we have an apartment in bukit mertajam where we live when we're this side of the border.  The MM2H visa is way over my head.... 

  

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, durian said:

I'm heading for 70, I know this type of event doesn't happen every year but it has and probably will happen again.  

 

since this flood is result of heaviest rainfall in 300 years, I venture to guess chance of you encountering such calamity there are not extremely big

[PeterRS]

4 minutes ago, vinapu said:

since this flood is result of heaviest rainfall in 300 years, I venture to guess chance of you encountering such calamity there are not extremely big

I regret I totally disagree with @vinapu. Granted this year the rainfall problem that has devastated many Asian countries with Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka the worst hit has been unusually high. The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam are not far behind in terms of rainfall and destruction. But it is certainly not the first time the south has ben flooded. This from The Nation -

Recent severe flooding in Hat Yai is yet another wake-up call that Thailand remains unprepared to cope with climate change. This is not the first time the South has been devastated – similar floods struck Hat Yai in 2000 and 2010, and other regions have suffered from extreme weather. Yet, despite these warnings, preparedness remains inadequate. The latest deluge dumped 635 millimetres of rain in three days, submerging central Hat Yai, stranding thousands of residents and tourists, and once again we saw how extreme weather is becoming more frequent and damaging.

https://www.nationthailand.com/the-opinion/commentary/40058777

And as @floridarob pointed out some posts ago -

On 11/27/2025 at 3:00 PM, floridarob said:

A few degrees of warming doesn’t sound like much, but in the ocean it’s catastrophic

The increasing severity of cyclones is certainly partly due to the oceans getting warmer. With the feeble attempts by the world's governments even to acknowledge and then do something about global warming, it is only going to get worse. And that inevitably means that annual flooding will increase. Forget this being a once in a 300 year event. It is bound to happen more frequently, although perhaps - I only suggest perhaps - at not such a level of severity. 

As for retirement in Hat Yai, I would think long and hard before moving there. I experienced the massive flooding in Bangkok in 2011. I would never wish to go through that again - and my condo was hardly affected. 

The effect of global warming and the resultant warming of the oceans has other undesirable consequences. As has been known now for nearly a decade but rarely mentioned by the Thai authorities,warmer waters resulted in the deadly Australian box jellyfish arriving off Thai waters. Already a few Thais and tourists have been killed through their stings. The numbers being caught in fishermen's nets indicate that this problem is only going to get worse. 

[vinapu]

41 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

I regret I totally disagree with @vinapu.

It's OK, lets return to the subject in Dec 2035 and see how it was in between

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

It's OK, lets return to the subject in Dec 2035 and see how it was in between

Happy to do so, provided we are not all under water.