Bangkok,4 January 2019: Nearly seven thousand people were moved to evacuation centres as Storm Pabuk struck the Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on Friday.
Reports said authorities were trying to evacuate 80,000 people in the province, Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Secretary of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, Udomporn Kan, said.
Thai Meteorology Department said storm Pabuk was advancing faster than anticipated and made landfall at 12.45 p.m. in Nakhon Si Thammarat with wind speed of 75 km per hour.
The storm was expected to affect much of Thailand’s southern coast until Saturday with heavy rainfall and the threat of flash floods or landslides.
Authorities have cancelled ferry services to the tourist islands of Samui, Tao and Phangan.
Prasanta Patnaik