Seven provinces in the lower South have suffered deadly destructive winds and severe floods, with over 34,000 villagers evacuated, as tropical storm Pabuk lay waste to the region and plunged people into days of despair before storming past Phangnga out to the Andaman Sea on Saturday.
Authorities in hardest-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat said they could make only rough estimates of the damage as the number of uprooted trees and fallen electricity poles on many roads are considerable and they need time to assess what they described as "flatten" fruit plantations in all 16 districts.
At least four people died -- three in Nakhon Si Thammarat and one in Pattani -- when Pabuk crashed into the Pak Phanang district coastline of Nakkhon Si Thammarat and slammed its neighbouring provinces on Friday. Some farm animals were also heavily hit, but damage is still being examined.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pharadon Ketchat, 35, was killed when a tree fell on his house in Chian Yai district while Pricha Chankaeo, 66, drowned in Pak Phanang. Even at an evacuation shelter in Hua Sai district, a 101-year-old man, Tun Phengchan, was declared dead due to heart failure.
In Pattani, a fisherman was killed and his friend is still missing after their boat was capsized by large waves.
HOME WET HOME: Paijit Kaeowan, a 61-year-old villager of Ban Lam Talum Puk of Pak Phanang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat, returns to her flooded house.
Nakhon Si Thmmarat officials were kept busy yesterday as they surveyed affected areas and braced for a mountain torrent which threatened to flood its municipality area, the latest target after municipalities in Pak Phanang and Pak Nakhon in Muang district were put under deep water on Friday due to an usually high tide.
Electricity workers, meanwhile, tried to finish repairing damaged power poles, which caused blackouts and affected nearly 60,000 residents in Muang and Pak Phanang district on Friday.
"The number of fallen electricity poles is 32 in this province," Chayaphon Thitisak, chief of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said yesterday as he announced an initial estimate of the damage in the seven provinces.
Video by Wassayog Ngamkham
Nakhon Si Thammarat's six seaside districts of Pak Phanang, Muang, Hua Sai, Khanom, Sichon and Tha Sala were hardest hit by severe gusty winds, he said.
However, officials earlier tried to curb the impact by evacuating villagers out of risk areas. In these six districts alone, more than 30,000 people were taken to safety in just a few hours.
They began to return homes yesterday after the Meteorological Department said Pabuk, which was downgraded to depression after making landfall, left the Phangnga coast.
But houses in parts of Nakhon Si Thammarat's Muang district may not be completely safe as Nakhon Si Thammarat mayor Chaowat Senphong received a report of "huge run-off" looming outside the municipality area.
WAITING GAME: Locals in Ban Lam Talum Puk of Pak Phanang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday wait on the road until they can enter their flooded homes.
The deluge was expected to reach the city last evening, but some roads had already encountered floods earlier in the day.
"The damage is believed to go beyond 150 million baht" in Nakhon Si Thammarat municipality alone where fierce winds destroyed at least 60 houses, Mr Chaowat said.
Pak Phanang municipality also bore a heavy brunt as its 26,000 householders were all affected, its mayor Phichet Klasukhon said.
"We've encountered the first-ever severe flood which burst into all the houses and left them under deep water," he said.
The Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, the research arm of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce, estimated the economic damage in the whole southern region should come to 3-5 billion baht.
One impact can be seen in the tourism sector. Tourists have left popular resort islands both in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea in droves since getting word of the approaching storm.
The situation continued yesterday when 1,500 air travellers flew out of Surat Thani, one of the seven provinces affected by the storm.
Besides these two provinces, another five provinces -- Pattani, Songkhla, Yala, Phatthalung and Narathiwat -- were also hit hard, especially by destructive winds, according to Mr Chayaphon.
Evacuation plans were carried out in most of the provinces to protect villagers.
In total, nearly 2,000 houses were damaged by powerful winds, Mr Chayaphon said.
ROAD IS A RIVER: Vehicles yesterday wade through a water-logged main road in Muang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat after heavy rainfall during tropical storm Pabuk on Friday.
Pabuk slowly left Thailand yesterday. At 3 pm, it was about 55 kilometres off Phangnga's Takua Pa district and kept moving northwest in the Andaman Sea, the Thai Meteorological Department said.
But its departure also caused rainfall in the upper southern region, including Prachuap Khiri Khan and Phetchaburi, department chief Phuwieng Prakhammintara said, adding "even parts of Bangkok are shrouded with dark clouds."
A fishing village in Prachuap Khirikan's Bang Saphan district is among areas which were also severely affected by Pabuk.
At least 20 houses in Tambon Mae Ramphueng were flooded by strong sea currents with water levels nearly reaching some house roofs, Bang Saphan district chief Loetyot Yaemphrai said.
One fisher was wounded while fleeing her inundated home. "The water surged and quickly reached my neck," said Bunsoi Sukprasoet.
Pabuk's impact was also felt in Trat and Rayong. According to officials, 50 seaside houses were flooded in Trat's Khlong Yai district. A similar situation was also reported in some areas of Chang resort island off the Trat mainland.
Chief of Mu Ko Chang Marine National Park on the island said a foreign tourist was washed out to the sea while swimming. Fortunately, he was rescued in time.