Pabuk tropical storm makes landfall in Thailand on January 4. (Photo: VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – At least five people were reported dead aftertropical storm Pabuk, with winds reaching 70 kilometres per hour, batteredsouthern coast of Thailand on January 4, Thai media said on January 5.
Strong winds crumbled rooftops, uprooted trees and felled electrical poles whiledownpours inundated roads, isolated many areas in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
Meanwhile, Surat Thani airport in Surat Thani province was ordered to close onJanuary 4 and 5 due to bad weather.
Ferry services have been ceased. Two of the country’s biggest gas productionplatforms in the Gulf of Thailand have suspended operations, and theirpersonnel has been evacuated to shore as the platforms were in the direct pathof the storm.
CNNquoted the district chief of Surat Thani province’s Koh Samui island as sayingon January 5 that there are about 20,000 tourists staying on the island, whichis the second largest in Thailand. The island is now totally cut off from themainland, and all kinds of transportation have been suspended since January 3.
Some 15,000 tourists are stranded on Koh Phangan island, and 4,000 stuck on KohTao island.
Earlier, the Thai Meteorological Department forecast that Nakhon Si Thammaratand Surat Thani were expected to be the hardest hit, but the tropical storm couldimpact other ten provinces.
There are fears the storm will be the worst to hit the Southeast Asian countrysince 1989 when Typhoon Gay left more than 400 dead. A tropical storm in 1962killed over 900 people in Thailand’s southern localities.-VNA
VNA
