The population of eleven southern provinces must prepare for the arrival of Cyclone Pabuk, which will lash south-western Thailand with extremely heavy rain and dangerously strong gusts of wind from today to Saturday.
Pabuk is the name of a tropical cyclone that moves overland to Thailand from South China via Vietnam. The provinces of Chumphon and Surat Thani are the hardest hit. This also applies to the popular holiday islands of Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. The waves in the Gulf of Thailand can even reach heights of 5 meters.
Authorities are concerned about the residents affected by Pabuk, as Thailand is rarely affected by cyclones, which do occur in Vietnam and the Philippines. Thailand usually only has to deal with tropical storms. Pabuk left a trail of destruction in the Philippines last week.
To be on the safe side, the offshore company PTTEP has removed its 300 employees from oil rigs. Moo Koh Ang Thong Marine National Park is closed until Saturday. The naval ship HTMS Ang Thong is berthed at Sattahip (Chon Buri) to serve as an emergency hospital. It can stay at sea for 45 days continuously.
In Surat Thani, the governor has ordered pumps, boats and trucks to be kept ready. As in the other southern provinces, floods and landslides are expected.
Source: Bangkok Post
Bangkok Airways has canceled all flights to and from Koh Samui before Friday, January 4.
No boats to and from the islands of Ko Phangan/samui/tao on Friday and Saturday either. Maybe Saturday afternoon…..weather permitting. For now we have to stay on Koh Phangan and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that if Panuk comes by tonight it won't be too bad
Let's hope it doesn't get too bad. My girlfriend is on Koh Phi Phi.
I wouldn't worry as the Phi Phi Islands are in the Andaman Sea and not in the Gulf of Thailand. As far as I know there has been no storm warning for the Andaman Sea.
Years ago, Thailand was also hit by a Typhoon in the same place, killing more than 900 people.
This is what my Thai spouse told me this afternoon as she has lived in Prayup Sirikan for a long time.
Let's hope for the best for the residents that this doesn't turn into an outright disaster.
Jan Beute.
Id Jan,
in November 1989 Chumphon was hit by cyclone 'GAY'. The city of Chumphon in particular was hit hard at the time. In the streets of Chumphon there was then up to 3m of water as the sea washed into the land. Waves of up to 11m were measured and wind speeds of 185km/h. It is still noticeable in some places. Incidentally, this is one of the main reasons why there are no wooden houses to be found along the coast. These were almost all destroyed by Gay. Stone was chosen for the reconstruction. However, it is very exceptional that the Gulf region has to deal with tropical storms. It had then been since 1891 that they had one landed.
Now, Friday morning, 08.30, it is here, 30 km north of Chumphon town, along the coast, almost windless, overcast gray sky. “The calm before the storm”???
Is Hua Hin also affected?
No, Hua Hin is a safe area.
As a precaution, the ferry service to Pattaya has been shut down.
SO??? Still watch out for extremely strong wind and high waves on the beach.
I don't know whether or not running the ferry service between Hua Hin and Pattaya is really a reference here.
I don't think they need much to lie still. If there is still the possibility that extremely strong winds and high waves are expected..
hope everyone is doing well. Good luck in the coming hours and days
My son is in Pattaya, is there any danger there?
no it is not on the route. Is dry here with sun every now and then. A bit windy this afternoon but that's nice.
We are going to Vietnam on Wednesday Do we still have a chance that the Typhoon will also get there?
Good luck to everyone there
has he already been. more obvious only in south around ho chi minh. but that was last monday and tuesday. goes to the adaman sea. Is south west of thailand.
Dear girls Chantal and Rianne,
Hope it's not too bad and that he doesn't turn on in koh phangan.
Pray and hope it will be okay. Find it scary and feel such impotence.
Who knows what it's like there now?
Mum and Dad xxx
We are in Khao Lak. We asked here but they just shrugged and knew nothing about Pabuk!! We assume we are safe!!!
Thank you for putting the extreme weather in Thailand on Thailandblog! Keep going with that, please
Does anyone know about Koh Lipe?
We are on Koh Lipe.
Cloudy, splash of rain, and a bit windy. But nothing extreme so far.
This is quite far from the expected route that Pabuk would travel.
how is it now on koh tao our son and daughter-in-law are there now mvg gert
Hua Hin. Everything here very normal on the beach (13.30h). Even the sun breaks through now and then and many beach beds are occupied. The sea very calm and a light breeze. Reportedly, the bad weather is moving south past us. Hopefully it stays that way. Good luck to the tourists and residents who apparently affect the more south more badly..
At the moment local time 13.40 a lot of rain on Koh phangan. It has been raining for a long time since last night. The wind isn't too bad. We sit and look out to sea and the waves are not really high. There is a lot of talk/written in the media about Pabuk and try to read everything about it. It is still unclear to me when/what time we (the peak) can really expect it to be above the island here and how long that will take in all its intensity?! Can anyone say something about that. Possibly someone who understands Thai and knows more from the Thai media!
For people in the Netherlands
Here in Hua hin a nice breeze, cloudy and some waves hitting the quay of the king's palace.
Just walked with the dog on the beach next door.
So far there is little sign of the storm
Good luck in southern areas!
If you install the Windy app, you can see exactly where the storm is located.
It's a handy app you can see everywhere where it storms
Currently, 19.00pm 275km south of Hua Hin, at Chumphon:
no sign of a storm. Only some light rain since 15.00 pm this afternoon and not a breath of wind.
On the beach: more waves than usual with this wind (almost none)… otherwise NOTHING. The storm has now made landfall south of Sawi, about 150km south of Chumphon.
Here in Hua Hin some drops of rain are starting to fall now (20.20h local time). Furthermore, very calm weather and a nice temperature.
Aaaah our kids are in Koh Lanta!
What is the course of the storm?
Yvonne
is already over. all planes back in the air. Pretty normal everywhere now. The weather is sometimes more extreme than in the Netherlands. The storm has never been above 7. It has rained a lot, but that is also normal.
Can heat here for 3 to 4 hours at 30 to 40 mm per hour and then completely dry for 4 weeks.
Flooding is also normal here.
Water management here does not mean creating buffers upstream, but downstream in the Gulf of Thailand.
Also start here at the upper reaches of the rivers to drain the water as quickly as possible.
That means making all rivers in the north wider and deeper, Straighter and with concrete walls.
So you get a gutter that the water actually cones through.
In the Netherlands it would roughly mean this. Laying the Meuse from Maastricht to Nijmegen in a sunken gutter so that Limburg remains dry but all the water flows neatly into the Betuwe.
Deepen the Rhine neatly from the border to, for example, Gorinchem and then neatly fill South Holland
Each province here regulates these matters independently and they set their own priorities on what to spend the money on.
Sometimes I am very surprised.
Ferry service sailed between pattaya and hua hin on January 5 and it was also open on Sunday which was a safe trip