Heavy winds during the
March 31 storm were felt throughout the area, including Payoon Beach
where the Chai Talay Payoon Seafood restaurant was destroyed when a
heavy tree fell on it. No one was injured.
Patcharapol Panrak
More than 200 Ban Chang homes and business were
damaged when typhoon-strength winds ripped through the Rayong community.
The severe March 31 storm swept onshore at Pla Beach
around 7:30 p.m., bringing down trees and utility poles, sinking fishing
boats and flattening Wat Pla School and shops along the beach. Relief
personnel from the Siam Rayong Foundation armed with backhoes used
chainsaws to clear felled trees from the roads.
Damage continued down the coast to Payoon Beach where
the Chai Talay Payoon Seafood restaurant was destroyed when a heavy tree
fell on it. No one was injured.
At Pla Temple and around the beach, trees fell on
numerous cars and winds blew the roofs off monk and nun dormitories.
Sister Somkhid Nakrua, 65, said she didn’t know which way to run because
the rain was falling hard and the storm was bringing trees down in every
direction.
The Thai Meteorological Agency website reported 2.6
cm of rain fell during the brief squall.
The effects of the storm were felt as far as
Plutaluang, where strong winds damaged the home of village chief
Sumethee Siripan. The 48-year-old said the wind ripped off the roof of
the house.
House employee Nuansri Srifaengmol, 47, said it was
fortunate none of the eight people inside the house was injured.
Sumethee said he was outside at the time of the damage.
Ban Chang Mayor Somporn Lualon said many residents
claimed it was the worst storm in as much as 50 years. Fortunately, he
said, no one was killed.
