A 193-million-baht upgrade of Pattaya's beachfront drainage system got its first test on Tuesday and the result left city officials’ promises that the Chon Buri resort town’s chronic flooding problem had been solved all wet.
An hour of rain that began around 3.30pm plunged Bang Lamung district into the usual traffic chaos, with Sukhumvit Road and Beach Road hardest hit.
Beach Road, which each year is repeatedly inundated by water flowing downhill from higher elevations to the east, had been the focus of a five-month construction project that saw the installation of new drainage pipelines as wide as two metres and as long as 1.2 kilometres under side streets at the far north and south ends of Beach Road as well as under Soi 6/1.
The final bits of work on the new system were completed last month.
17.24น. หลังตกหนักบ่ายที่ผ่านมา ทำให้ถ.สุขุมวิทพัทยาใต้ เกิดน้ำท่วม การจราจรติดสะสม cr.True Pattaya เรารักพัทยา pic.twitter.com/ulkl1vnvf0
— FM91 (@fm91trafficpro) February 16, 2016
City officials repeatedly have insisted that the 193-million-baht project would finally alleviate the need for massive pumps on the beachfront and end flooding that merged the shoreline thoroughfare with the ocean and carved out huge gouges in the sand.
Photos posted to Twitter showed those predictions were too optimistic, with water washing over sidewalks, streets and onto the beach, albeit not as deep that has been seen as in previous storms.
Traffic radio Jor Sor 100 reported that water ran 50 centimetres deep on Sukhumvit Road, bringing the eastern province's main artery to a standstill for an hour even after the rain stopped.
Pattaya pic.twitter.com/5QEkg5wCqj
— Chanwatt Sae Sieo (@Chanwatt) February 16, 2016
The Meteorological Department reported that 3.6 millimetres had fallen by 7pm.
Its latest forecast predicted no rainfall for Pattaya on Wednesday, but some areas in Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat provinces could see showers and thunderstorms.
YouTube video by David Herd