Thailand hit by flood disaster

Thailand is being devastated by the huge rains and subsequent flooding. More than 250 people have died since July form flood related incidents. The north of Thailand has been badly affected especially the areas surrounding Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai. More recently the Ayudhya province has been flooded causing many of the area's factories to close down temporarily. The floods also extend to the Southern provinces. Ko samui & Ko Tao have had approx 1,200 tourists evacuated via the Thai Navy' sole aircraft carrier. Phuket has been affected especially the are around the Patong Hospital. Other southern provinces to be affected are Krabi, Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat,Surat Thani, Trang and Phatthalung. A total of 80 districts in eight provinces have been declared disaster areas.

Bangkok is now awaiting the flood waters of the North to reach it's main river the Chao Phraya. All areas close to the river are expected to be affected. I took a water taxi from Phra Athit last week and saw many of the shanty homes are already partially underwater. I live in the Rama 3 area.......... Riverfront, our Condo has been sand bagged out front and an emergency plan has been placed in lifts and notice boards. Locals are now buying up stocks of tinned and dried fruit and water. The local markets and Supermarkets such as Tesco are being emptied and stocks have yet to come to refill the shelves. we decided to buy a camping stove, but on arrival found they also had sold out.




We have just returned home from a trip to Phuket, only 5 days of rain out of 10, but when it rained it really rained. If you are not in Thailand or S.E.Asia and are planning to come I would recommend postponing your trip as it is unlikely to be much fun here for a while with rains and floods expected to continue for some weeks. In other parts of S.E.Asia things are very similar with some 150 deaths reported in Cambodia and 15 in Vietnam. The Philippines has been struck by typhoons once again. People who are in Thailand to travel, i would suggest you look to relocate before things get difficult and travel becomes harder.

Fingers crossed things will get better for Thailand, the tourism industry has been badly affected of recent times what with constant anti government protest and violent clashes and natural disaster.