NAKHON SI THAMMARAT, Jan 4 (TNA) – Tropical Storm Pabuk
has triggered heavy flooding in Nakhon Si Thammarat after it made landfall on
Friday.
Pabuk reached the coast of Pak Panang district in the
southern province at 12.45 p.m. and has continued to move inland.
Pak Panang town has been inundated in deep floodwater
following high tides and heavy downpours.
Streets and thoroughfares have been impassable while gusty wind
uprooting trees, utilities poles and swirling debris around.
A major coastal highway linking Pak Panang with Mueang
district has been blocked by high voltage power poles knocked down by the
storm.
Rescue workers and emergency response teams are on high
alert of urgent rescue operation.
The storm has continued moving inland toward Surat Thani
with maximum sustained wind of 65 km/hr., the Meteorological Department reports
at 5 p.m. local time.
The impacts of the storm are widespread as authorities warn
of forest runoffs and flash floods in several provinces in southern Thailand.
In Prachuap Khiri Khan province, the storm forced Bang
Saphan Hospital to move 10 patients in intensive care to another hospital.
Other patients have been relocated to high floors as
precautionary measure.
The meteorologists forecast earlier that Pabuk will weaken
to a depression as its moves further west to the Andaman Sea. Until Saturday, it will continue to
extensively cause torrential downpours in the south as well as Bangkok.
(TNA)
