Former Phuket MP criticises Patong development after flash flood

A flash flood from Khao 50 Pi inundated Patong’s Ban Nanai community in Phuket’s Kathu district early on 26 October, sending branches, mud and rocks into Soi 8 after heavy rain at about 02:00.

Patong Municipality deployed officials, heavy machinery and excavators that afternoon to remove mud and debris and clean the roads. Traffic was temporarily closed between Soi 8 and Soi 5 to speed up the restoration work. Light rain continued, and officials remained alert to the possibility of another surge of runoff from the mountain.

Former Phuket MP Sutha Prateep na Thalang said he had long warned that Patong could face a disaster of this kind. He attributed the risk, in his assessment, to development focused on commercial growth without sufficient consideration for the natural environment, including roads cut through hills without adequate water-management systems and changes to upstream areas.

Sutha also questioned the condition of Patong’s drainage network. He said natural canals that were previously 3–5 metres wide, and up to 10 metres wide in some places, had been disrupted or narrowed to less than 1 metre in some areas. He called on state agencies to review historical waterway maps and address the problem at its source, rather than only clearing mud after floodwaters recede.