Thread: Pabuk due to hit southern Thailand this week

The authorities are on high alert as Tropical Storm Pabuk is on course for southern Thailand.

Chayaphon Thitisak, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director general, said his southern offices were prepared for the storm later this week.


The authorities are stockpiling equipment and supplies, he added.



Chayaphon urged citizens to stay alert and comply with the official instructions.


In case of an emergency, people can call the 1784 hotline.


The Meteorological Department says Pabuk will affect Thailand until Saturday, as it is now moving westward at the speed of 10 kilometres per hour and it is already entering the Gulf of Thailand.


A warning for heavy downpours and strong gale has been issued for Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Ranong, Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun.


The Meteorological Department also urged Gulf coast southerners to stay away from the shore as waves of 3-5 metres were expected with a chance of inshore surges.

Pabuk due to hit southern Thailand this week

This Friday morning I'll be driving from Chaiya, Surat Thani to the airport in Phuket. Indications are that I should get an early start.

It's pretty far south. Northern Malaysia will bear the brunt more than Southern Thailand.

I heard today they are predicting a 5 metre swell.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

I heard today they are predicting a 5 metre swell.

You wouldn't happen to have a surfboard I could borrow?

Originally Posted by Maanaam

It's pretty far south. Northern Malaysia will bear the brunt more than Southern Thailand.

No, the center is heading towards Kota Buru but will turn to north and hit southern Thailand all the way from Naratiwat up to Suratthani, maybe even up to Chumpon before crossing Thailand for the Andaman see. Malaysia is far better off than Thailand.

Originally Posted by lom

No, the center is heading towards Kota Buru but will turn to north and hit southern Thailand all the way from Naratiwat up to Suratthani, maybe even up to Chumpon before crossing Thailand for the Andaman see. Malaysia is far better off than Thailand.

Really? I looked at the track history of this depression and it's tracking counter-clockwise as expected for northern hemisphere. Counter clockwise will take it south.

It (the eye) is currently south east of Yala.

https://www.windy.com/?5.206,102.239,7

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Counter clockwise will take it south.

It (the eye) is currently south east of Yala.

I was wrong.
Eye is currently a bit east of Hatyai. Soild, but not heavy, rain for the last 24 hours.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...n-a-generation

Stay safe all of you who live that way.

This morning's drive from Surat Thani to Phuket was no drama.

Tourists flee Thai islands as Tropical Storm Pabuk closes in

Tens of thousands of tourists have fled some of Thailand's most popular islands and resort areas as Tropical Storm Pabuk closes in and threatens to batter the southern part of the kingdom with heavy rains, winds and seven-metre (22-foot) waves.


The islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, packed with holiday-makers during the peak Christmas and New Year season, have emptied out since Wednesday as tourists squeeze onto ferries bound for the southern Thai mainland, with swimming banned and boats set to suspend services.



Pabuk, Thailand's first tropical storm in the area outside of the monsoon season for around 30 years, is poised to hit the two islands as well as neighbouring Koh Samui on Friday afternoon, before cutting into the mainland.


Packing winds of 104 kilometres per hour (65 mph), Pabuk is unlikely to intensify into a full-blown typhoon, according to forecasters.


AFP / AFPThailand storm


"But we expect waves as high as five or seven metres near the eye of the storm," Phuwieng Prakammaintara, head of the Thai Meteorological Department, told reporters.


No official evacuation order has been given but tourists are leaving in droves, with those unable to book flights preparing to see out the storm on eerily deserted islands.



"I think the islands are almost empty... between 30,000 to 50,000 have left since the New Year's Eve countdown parties," Krikkrai Songthanee, Koh Phangan district chief, told AFP.


The acting mayor of Koh Tao, one of Southeast Asia's finest diving spots, said boats to Chumphon on the mainland were crammed with tourists, but several thousand guests were still on the island likely to brave the storm.


"It's difficult to predict the severity of the storm so people should comply with authorities' recommendations."



- 'Danger flags' -


On Koh Samui, a Russian man drowned on Wednesday after his family ignored warnings not to go into the sea.


"A family of three went swimming but the strong current caught a 56-year-old man who drowned," Police Captain Boonnam Srinarat of Samui Police told AFP.


"Island officials announced the warning and put up the red 'danger' flags... but maybe the family did not think the situation was that serious."


Bangkok Airways, which has a virtual monopoly on the air route to the island, cancelled all flights in and out of Samui on Friday.


Authorities prepared shelters for tourists who decided to wait out the storm or who could not secure seats on ferries for the mainland before services are suspended late Thursday.


Pabuk, which means a giant catfish in Lao, is also expected to dump heavy rain across the south, including tourist hotspots in the Andaman Sea such as Krabi and Phuket.


The Similan National Park, home to pristine beaches and bays, has been closed until Saturday as a precaution as the storm bites hard into business during the peak season.


"I was supposed to stay on a boat and dive all day tomorrow (Friday)," Annick Fleury, a 29-year-old tourist from Geneva told AFP in Khao Lak near Phuket, one of hundreds cutting short -- or re-routing -- their diving holidays in the Andaman area.


"If I can go to Krabi, I'll try to get there tonight. Otherwise I'll have to book myself into a nice hotel and just wait for the storm to pass."


The southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala near the Malaysia border are also bracing for flooding.


Thailand's economy is heavily reliant on tourism. The kingdom is expected to welcome a record 40 million people this year, many bound for its southern beaches and resorts.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/tou...es-doc-1by1ie3

Commerce Min monitoring supply of goods in storm-hit areas

The Ministry of Commerce is monitoring the supply of everyday products in all areas affected by Tropical Storm Pabuk.


Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said that provincial commerce offices have been instructed to ensure that there are enough supplies of goods and essential items at communities and shelters in areas battered by the storm, which has prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.


It is highly unusual for tropical storms to make landfall in Thailand. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in Thailand was in 1962, when Tropical Storm Harriet impacted 12 provinces and claimed as many as 900 lives. According to the Meteorological Department, no previous tropical cyclone had struck Thailand in the months of January, February or March in records going back as far as 1951.


National energy company PTT Exploration and Production Pcl said it had suspended operations at Bongkot and Erawan, two of the country’s biggest gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand.



National News Bureau Of Thailand

Commerce Min monitoring supply of goods in storm-hit areas

The Ministry of Commerce is monitoring the supply of everyday products in all areas affected by Tropical Storm Pabuk.


Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said that provincial commerce offices have been instructed to ensure that there are enough supplies of goods and essential items at communities and shelters in areas battered by the storm, which has prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.


It is highly unusual for tropical storms to make landfall in Thailand. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in Thailand was in 1962, when Tropical Storm Harriet impacted 12 provinces and claimed as many as 900 lives. According to the Meteorological Department, no previous tropical cyclone had struck Thailand in the months of January, February or March in records going back as far as 1951.


National energy company PTT Exploration and Production Pcl said it had suspended operations at Bongkot and Erawan, two of the country’s biggest gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand.



National News Bureau Of Thailand