Heavy rains bring Phuket to standstill

There was chaos on the roads in downtown Phuket yesterday after heavy downpours on Tuesday night and high tides swamped the popular tourist island. Flooding forced nine schools to close.

Traffic was almost at a standstill on many roads in the Phuket City Municipality and on roads to Phuket International Airport, due to 50cm to metre-high floodwater.

The schools that were inundated and had to close were: Phuket Wittayalai, Satree Phuket, Phutthamongkolnimit, Wittaya Sathid, Kanok Kwan Kindergarten, Muslim Wittayalai Phuket, Ban Tarua, Wat Si Sunthon and Ban Bung Khla School.

The Thai Airways flight TG 204, which was due to depart at 10.55am, had to be delayed by half an hour to wait for passengers stuck in traffic.

On Thepkrasattri Road, traffic was at a standstill for two to three kilometres.

Thephuketnews.com website said some 150 metres of Patong Hill Road, on the Kathu side of Sea Pearl Villas, had collapsed due to the rain. The motorbike lane and most of another lane disappeared on the Patong-bound side of the road, leaving a yawning hole several metres deep.

Some areas of Kathu district, especially Patong, were flooded, while the Mungmai-Pakhlok Road was under a metre of water. A landslide was also reported in Thalang district.

PM Yingluck Shinawatra later said floods had receded and the situation was getting back to normal. Five provinces in the South were warned to prepare for possible flash floods.

Compensation criteria for people affected from flash floods will be based on damage incurred.