0
Met warns of more violent seas in South
The Nation
The eastern coast of Thailand will likely face three to four more rounds of high and violent waves over the next few months, according to the Meteorological Department.
Waves of up to five metres in height have been lashing many southern provinces since Sunday.
"It's the monsoon surge," the department's deputy director-general, Somchai Baimuang, said yesterday, "The phenomenon will recur three to four more times before the end of February."
In the wake of threatened ongoing big waves, evacuations were needed in some areas and many locals were panicked about the possibility of a tsunami and storm surge.
An unprecedented tsunami disaster ravaged six southern provinces on December 26, 2004.
Smith Dhammasaroj, a former chief of the Meteorological Department, reportedly described the high waves in the South as a result of "storm surge" that then triggered even wider panic.
"That's not true," said Assoc Prof Dr Thanawat Jarupongsakul about Smith's reported comment. Thanawat heads the unit studying disasters and area-oriented information in the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University.
According to this academic, a storm surge will emerge only if a typhoon or a tropical storm strikes.
"But the high waves along the coast of Thailand's South now result from southwest and northeast monsoons," Thanawat said.
He said the waves were higher than before just because of climate change.
"In the past, waves in the Gulf of Thailand were one to three metres high. But the height [now] goes up to around five or six metres," Thanawat said.
He said Malaysia and Indonesia had seen a similar trend.
Like Somchai, Thanawat said the big and strong waves would continue because cold weather was heading to Thailand.
"Follow the weather news and you won't get easily panicked," Thanawat said.
Somchai said when sea conditions are getting rough, the Meteorological Department always issued warnings. Some precautions, however, had proved insufficient.
In Surat Thani's Don Sak district, the high waves swept across the breakwater and damaged the road running along the coastline.
In Chumphon, about 10 tourists were stranded on Pitak Island when waves were too high for them to travel back to the mainland. "The waves were over four metres high," Tambon Bang Nam Jued Administrative Organisation chairman Banyong Intamart said.
Paknam Laungsuan Municipality mayor Winai Anantamek said the waves had already caused more than Bt20 million in damage to local authorities.
In Songkhla, more than 50 locals in Ban Tha Khen yesterday evacuated to a temple after big waves damaged their seaside homes. Songkhla Governor Krissada Boonraj said relief items were already being given to the affected locals.
"We will inspect the damage caused to consider further remedial action," he said.
In Ranong, a storm uprooted many trees and caused a power blackout.
"We have warned people to be extra careful when going out to sea," the province's disaster-prevention and mitigation chief Chasan Kongruang said.
-- The Nation 2011-12-27
