Residents living on coastal areas in the southern region are leaving home for shelters ahead of the arrival of tropical storm Pabuk, which is expected to reach the shore on Friday.
The attention is on Nakhon Si Thammarat as forecasters of the Meteorological Department warned on Thursday that the storm will make landfall in the province on Friday night.
The province, which has a 220km-long coastline, prepares 90 shelters to accommodate up to 86,000 evacuees.
The latest warning issued by the weather forecast agency at 5pm said the storm in the Gulf of Thailand was moving west with maximum winds of 65km per hour. The eye of the storm was 500km southeast of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Deputy provincial governor Tawornwat Kongkaew said on Thursday about 30,000 people living on the coastal districts of Muang, Tha Sala, Sichon, Khanom, Pak Phanang and Hua Sai, were moved to safe places. Authorities in the province planned to evacuate all people living in coastal homes to shelters before the storm hits the province.
Shelters have also been set up in other southern provinces and all schools in Nakhon Si Thammarat will close on Friday.
The municipality office in Pak Phanang district is one of the shelters in Nakhon Si Thammarat. (Photo by Nujaree Raekrun)
Nine oil-and-gas drilling firms have already moved 2,635 employees from offshore drilling platforms to the mainland, leaving only 246 at work to oversee operations, according to the Energy Ministry.
Energy policymakers have prepared measures to ensure that oil, gas and power supply will not be disrupted.
Oil and gas production from the Gulf has declined as the storm is coming.
Off-shore crude oil production has been cut by 27,000 barrels per day, or 27% of full production at 100,000 bpd, while gas production declined by 600 million standard cubic feet per day.
Residents in Sichon district in Nakhon Si Thammarat evacuate to shelters on military trucks on Thursday. (Photo by Nujaree Raekrun)
PTT Plc, the sole LNG importer, has been told to get ready in case LNG is needed to avert blackouts and shortages.
PTT and the Department of Energy Business, which regulates downstream oil and gas business, were also ordered to prepare for the worst and stock cooking gas.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) was also instructed to prepare diesel and bunker oil for production if gas supply is interrupted.
Egat is also prepared to import additional power supply from Laos and Malaysia.
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