Fueled by two typhoons, 2013’s rainy season is proving especially damaging to the Pattaya area, where residents are again looking for dry ground.
Most recently, the Eastern Seaboard took a pounding from Typhoon Nari Oct. 15-16, the second this month.
Pattaya and Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan officials came to the rescue of 47 households in Fang Thon where 1.2 m. of water inundated homes.
Homes in Fang Thon were inundated with up to 1.2 meters of muddy floodwater.
Village Chief Weerasak Naphom said repeated floods in this community are normal in the low-lying neighborhood, which catches runoff from Takientia, Rong Poh and Laem Chabang. Even a 400-meter-long concrete berm constructed after the 2011 floods could not hold back the water.
Former Culture Minister Sukumol Kunplome led a delegation of public officials and charity organizations in donating dried food, drinking water and relief bags to residents.
Sukumol inspected the walls of the Thakradan Canal, finding that its concrete sides, built by the Provincial Electrical Authority, were not high enough and said she’d seek another 10 million baht to add to them in November.
In the Thakradan Temple neighborhood, canals overflowed and ran as deep as two meters in area streets. Sawang Boriboon rescuers in boats helped evacuate more than 50 families, moving them and their valuables to an emergency center on Sukhumvit Road.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho organized evacuations and oversaw distribution of sleeping mats and food. Meanwhile, the PEA donated generators and area hospitals sent nurses to care for the ill.
