Tientallen Nederlandse toeristen vast in tropische storm Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN)Thousands of people have been left stranded on Thailand's southern gulf coast as authorities moved to suspend all flights and ferry services ahead of what could be the worst storm to hit the country in decades.

Tropical Storm Pabuk is expected to make landfall about 7 p.m. local time Friday (5 a.m. ET) near the Chumphon archipelago, on the eastern border of Thailand's Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces, but heavy rain has already arrived.

Some of the country's most popular tourist destinations, including Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao islands, along with islands in the Andaman Sea such as Phuket and Koh Phi Phi -- made famous by the movie "The Beach" -- are expected to be affected by the storm during peak holiday season.

"It's quite scary being here because we don't know what's going to happen and there is no way to leave," American tourist Miranda Abidyer, 26, who is stranded on Koh Samui island, told CNN.
Abidyer, who traveled to the island with her young family to celebrate her husband's 30th birthday, said they had a flight scheduled for Friday but it was canceled and ferry services have also been suspended. She said they haven't received any information from local authorities about the storm or what they should do. The now plan to wait it out in their private villa, which is about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the beach."We will hide in the bathroom if the storm gets that bad. But all we can do is wait," said Abidyer.

It is highly unusual for tropical storms and typhoons to make landfall in Thailand. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in Thailand was in 1962, when Tropical Storm Harriet impacted 12
provinces and claimed 900 lives. The only typhoon ever to make landfall in the Southeast Asian nation was Typhoon Gay in 1989.

The district chief of Koh Samui, Kittipop Roddon, told CNN by phone Friday that there are about 20,000 tourists staying on the island, which is the second largest in Thailand.
"The island is now totally cut off from the mainland, all kinds of transportation (to mainland) have been suspended since yesterday," he said, adding that there is enough food and supplies on Koh Samui to last through the storm.

Those left are now preparing to ride out the storm, with residents on Koh Samui boarding up houses with wooden planks. By Friday, the roads on the island were quieter and store shelves emptier, witnesses told CNN.

But it's those on some of the smaller islands that could be the most vulnerable. The district chief of Ko Phangan and the popular diving island of Koh Tao told CNN that he was concerned that any emergency rescue operations would be more difficult on Koh Tao due to its remoteness. He said 15,000 tourists remain on Koh Phangan and about 4,000 on Koh Tao.

Thousands of residents living in coastal areas were evacuated to storm shelters on Thursday, according to Thailand's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation agency. Some 5,700 people were moved to safety in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, on the country's east coast, which is among the areas expected to be hardest hit by the storm.

The agency's director general, Chyapol Thitisa, told CNN that for three days the army had been helping to evacuate those living in remote and coastal areas in the province and some coastal villages prone to storm surges have been completely emptied.

The Royal Thai Navy's only aircraft carrier has been deployed along with two other ships to assist with rescue and relief operations, according to Thai PBS. It will reportedly 15 hours for the ships to sail from their base to Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Thousands of tourists have also fled the islands, cramming onto ferries and specially chartered boats.Nakhon Si Thammarat airport is closed, and Bangkok Airways announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Koh Samui on Friday "for safety reasons."

Thailand's Meteorological Department said the storm was 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, according to a 7 a.m. weather advisory on Friday.

Tropical Storm Pabuk is expected to bring maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (59 mph) and torrential downpours. Strong winds on Thailand's gulf coast, which lies directly in the path of the storm, could bring waves up to 3-5 meters (10-16 ft), according to the Meteorological Department.

#ANONIEM	donderdag 3 januari 2019 @ 23:14
	Tientallen Nederlandse toeristen vast in Thaise tropische storm Thailand maakt zich op voor een zware tropische storm. Die koerst recht af op de populaire toeristische oostkust. De Thaise weerdienst vreest dat het de zwaarste storm wordt in dertig jaar en verwacht golven van vijf tot zeven meter hoog, windvlagen van meer dan 100 kilometer per uur, zware regenval en vloedgolven die het land kunnen overstromen. Tienduizenden toeristen zijn de afgelopen dagen al gevlucht van de eilandjes Koh Tao, Koh Samui en Koh Phangan, die volgens de verwachting in het oog van de storm komen te liggen. Maar niet iedereen wist op tijd het vaste land te bereiken, want de veerdiensten zijn inmiddels vanwege de hoge golven uit de vaart genomen. Ook alle vluchten van en naar de eilanden zijn gecanceld. Alarmcentrale De ANWB alarmcentrale heeft vandaag zo'n veertig telefoontjes binnengekregen van Nederlanders die vastzitten in het gebied. "We adviseren mensen goed te luisteren naar de lokale autoriteiten en hun aanwijzingen op te volgen", zegt een woordvoerder tegen de NOS. "We kunnen nu niets anders doen dan afwachten en hopen dat het meevalt." Het Rode Kruis heeft al voorbereidingen getroffen in het gebied. "We hebben vier hulpposten bevoorraad met medicijnen en hulpgoederen als voedsel, kleding en dekens", zegt een woordvoerder. "Als het nodig is kunnen we meteen aan de slag." https://nos.nl/artikel/22(...)tropische-storm.html Zie ook: WKN / Hurricane Season 2019: Riding into the storms
#ANONIEM	donderdag 3 januari 2019 @ 23:31
	Tienduizenden toeristen zijn in Thailand op de vlucht geslagen voor de eerste tropische storm in 30 jaar buiten het moessonseizoen. Onder hen Lorraine Groeneveld (28) en Cyriel Prins (38) uit Scheveningen. Ze vluchtten met de laatste boot van het bedreigde eilandje Koh Tao. ,,Het was doodeng’’, klinkt het over de telefoon. Het stel komt in Chumphon op het Thaise vasteland weer op adem na hun angstige avontuur. ,,We hebben helse uren beleefd op de boot. Het ging om een catamaran en die was best klein voor het vervoer van mensen op zee. De boot slingerde zo erg heen en weer dat veel van de passagiers - alles bij elkaar een stuk of dertig - zeeziek werden en moesten overgeven. Ik gelukkig niet, ondanks dat ik bij een raampje zat dat regelmatig onder water verdween’’, vertelt Groeneveld. Van paniek aan boord was volgens haar geen sprake. ,,Iedereen bleef kalm maar mensen gilden wel vaak vanwege de enorme deining. Ik ben als Scheveningse wel wat golven gewend maar zulke hoge heb ik nog nooit eerder gezien. Ik zeg altijd: never a dull moment in mijn leven maar dit was zelfs voor mij te heftig en doodeng.’’ De schrik sloeg Groeneveld en haar vriend gistermiddag om het hart toen ze een andere Nederlandse toeriste toevallig hoorden praten over de naderende storm. Die belooft morgen zeer zware windstoten van 100 kilometer per uur, hevige regen en zeven meter hoge golven. Veerdiensten komen daardoor te vervallen. ,,In het hotel zeiden ze dat we best konden blijven omdat het volgens hen veilig was. In andere hotels kregen we hetzelfde te horen. Ze willen natuurlijk dat je blijft vanwege hun inkomsten maar wij zeiden meteen tegen elkaar: we moeten hier weg. Je weet immers niet wat het gaat worden als de storm komt.’’ Het stel probeerde gisteren aan het eind van de middag hun tickets voor de boot van zondag om te wisselen voor een boot van vandaag. ,,Dat lukte niet omdat er veel te veel toeristen waren die allemaal hetzelfde wilden’’, zegt Groeneveld. https://www.ad.nl/buitenl(...)aise-storm~a7983599/
olcay93	donderdag 3 januari 2019 @ 23:40
	Die bootjes verkorten je leven ook zonder storm al met 10 jaar
Butjekef	donderdag 3 januari 2019 @ 23:45
	quote: Ik zeg altijd: never a dull moment in mijn leven
Frutsel	vrijdag 4 januari 2019 @ 08:37
	Bijzonder...kan me zo ff geen tropische storm herinneren die daar langsging...
Frutsel	vrijdag 4 januari 2019 @ 08:45
	Hmm...zo te lezen is het dus ook best uniek quote: Bangkok, Thailand (CNN)Thousands of people have been left stranded on Thailand's southern gulf coast as authorities moved to suspend all flights and ferry services ahead of what could be the worst storm to hit the country in decades. Tropical Storm Pabuk is expected to make landfall about 7 p.m. local time Friday (5 a.m. ET) near the Chumphon archipelago, on the eastern border of Thailand's Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces, but heavy rain has already arrived. Some of the country's most popular tourist destinations, including Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao islands, along with islands in the Andaman Sea such as Phuket and Koh Phi Phi -- made famous by the movie "The Beach" -- are expected to be affected by the storm during peak holiday season. "It's quite scary being here because we don't know what's going to happen and there is no way to leave," American tourist Miranda Abidyer, 26, who is stranded on Koh Samui island, told CNN. Abidyer, who traveled to the island with her young family to celebrate her husband's 30th birthday, said they had a flight scheduled for Friday but it was canceled and ferry services have also been suspended. She said they haven't received any information from local authorities about the storm or what they should do. The now plan to wait it out in their private villa, which is about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the beach."We will hide in the bathroom if the storm gets that bad. But all we can do is wait," said Abidyer. It is highly unusual for tropical storms and typhoons to make landfall in Thailand. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in Thailand was in 1962, when Tropical Storm Harriet impacted 12 provinces and claimed 900 lives. The only typhoon ever to make landfall in the Southeast Asian nation was Typhoon Gay in 1989. The district chief of Koh Samui, Kittipop Roddon, told CNN by phone Friday that there are about 20,000 tourists staying on the island, which is the second largest in Thailand. "The island is now totally cut off from the mainland, all kinds of transportation (to mainland) have been suspended since yesterday," he said, adding that there is enough food and supplies on Koh Samui to last through the storm. Those left are now preparing to ride out the storm, with residents on Koh Samui boarding up houses with wooden planks. By Friday, the roads on the island were quieter and store shelves emptier, witnesses told CNN. But it's those on some of the smaller islands that could be the most vulnerable. The district chief of Ko Phangan and the popular diving island of Koh Tao told CNN that he was concerned that any emergency rescue operations would be more difficult on Koh Tao due to its remoteness. He said 15,000 tourists remain on Koh Phangan and about 4,000 on Koh Tao. Thousands of residents living in coastal areas were evacuated to storm shelters on Thursday, according to Thailand's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation agency. Some 5,700 people were moved to safety in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, on the country's east coast, which is among the areas expected to be hardest hit by the storm. The agency's director general, Chyapol Thitisa, told CNN that for three days the army had been helping to evacuate those living in remote and coastal areas in the province and some coastal villages prone to storm surges have been completely emptied. The Royal Thai Navy's only aircraft carrier has been deployed along with two other ships to assist with rescue and relief operations, according to Thai PBS. It will reportedly 15 hours for the ships to sail from their base to Nakhon Si Thammarat. Thousands of tourists have also fled the islands, cramming onto ferries and specially chartered boats.Nakhon Si Thammarat airport is closed, and Bangkok Airways announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Koh Samui on Friday "for safety reasons." Thailand's Meteorological Department said the storm was 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, according to a 7 a.m. weather advisory on Friday. Tropical Storm Pabuk is expected to bring maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (59 mph) and torrential downpours. Strong winds on Thailand's gulf coast, which lies directly in the path of the storm, could bring waves up to 3-5 meters (10-16 ft), according to the Meteorological Department.
Basp1	vrijdag 4 januari 2019 @ 08:47
	Als ik naar dat bewegend plaatje kijkt lijkt het alsof die storm geheel aan het oplossen is.
#ANONIEM	vrijdag 4 januari 2019 @ 08:48
	quote: Op vrijdag 4 januari 2019 08:47 schreef Basp1 het volgende: Als ik naar dat bewegend plaatje kijkt lijkt het alsof die storm geheel aan het oplossen is. Laatste beeld van NASA.
#ANONIEM	zaterdag 5 januari 2019 @ 09:16
	Stormschade Thailand valt mee, vliegverkeer en veerdiensten hervat In het zuiden van Thailand zijn de meeste veerdiensten en het vliegverkeer hervat. Donderdag kwam alles stil te liggen vanwege de aangekondigde tropische storm Pabuk. Veel toeristen kwamen daardoor vast te zitten op populaire vakantie-eilanden als Koh Samui en Koh Tao. Gisteren trok de storm over het gebied heen. Voor zover bekend viel er één dode: een visser kwam om het leven toen zijn boot kapseisde. Bomen werden ontworteld, daken waaiden van huizen en op veel plaatsen viel de stroom uit, maar de schade is minder groot dan gevreesd. Inmiddels is de storm afgeschaald naar een zware depressie. Er wordt nog wel gewaarschuwd voor zware regenval en overstromingen. Vandaag wordt er weer gevlogen op de luchthaven van Koh Samui. Luchtvaartmaatschappij Bangkok Airways heeft extra vluchten ingepland om gestrande vakantiegangers op te halen. Ook de vliegvelden van Nahkon Si Thammarat en Surat Thani zijn vandaag weer open. https://nos.nl/artikel/22(...)diensten-hervat.html