Friday 1 April 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 1st April, 2011

Today's weather;

Things are definitely on the up, Samui woke up under sunshine this morning! Motorbikes are moving around again in front of our house in Plai Laem on a road that had unprecedented levels of water on it. The current temp at 7am is 24.7C

Most roads around Koh Samui are fine again, some have a few puddles on it and some are still flooded, overall though, things are improving and especially having a forecast with 7 days of more or less sunshine will definitely improve things around all three Gulf islands.
Yesterday saw some bits of rain but just 8mm over the last 24 hrs. Max temp reached 25.5C

Wading and swimming in the water near Donsak

For all people contacting me, last night I answered emails and messages on my blog for over 5 hours, from 18.30 onwards last night. A lot of the questions are very repetitious and I must first of all thank you all for showing support, especially David and Peter for their generous donation and Robert as well.

-However, please keep in mind that I do NOT have lists of individual hotels and their current state. If I stumble over one or hear about one I will post it here on my blog.

-If you're planning to visit Koh Samui within a week or so, expect a damaged island with a lot of clean up and repair work going on. I'm sure that hotels that aren't affected will do their uttermost best to accommodate you but Samui won't be at it's prettiest!

-If you're planning to visit Samui around mid April, I would expect a lot of damage and debris been taken care of and your visit should be fine.

-Anybody planning on visiting towards the end of April or early May or even later, don't worry. Do not reschedule for November, that's usually Samui's rainy season!

-The weather forecast for the next 7 days is good, with plenty of sunshine, no wind and just a few occasional drops of rain. I can only hope that the weather will be as it usually is during April and that's HOT!

-Due to the overwhelming amount of mails and messages, I won't be able to answer each individual mail or message anymore at the rate they're coming in, please accept my apologies for that but please read the above, it should answer 99% of all questions! Questions out of the ordinary I will definitely answer.

-As before, please support my blog with either donations, hitting the beer allowance buttons or keep booking your future hotel stays on Samui and around Thailand on my Samui hotel recommendation blog or Thailand hotel recommendation blog. Please bookmark them.

-For information about Koh Tao, check out Ayesha's blog on Koh Tao, she claims that all is fine on Koh Tao and they never had food or drinking water shortages and should be up for diving and business as usual later today!
For Koh Phangan updates check out the 'My Jungle life' blog for updates.
For Phuket updates, check out Jamie's Phuket weather blog.

In the meantime, Koh Lanta woke up to a lightly cloudy sky and it looks like more sunshine may be ours later today and yesterday saw actually bits and pieces of sunshine with a few rare drops of rain, the dive boats went out yesterday! Current temp at 7am is 24C and max temp reached 28.2C yesterday.


The biggest concern right now is still the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat and all of a sudden the province of Krabi with it's landslides.

So far 13 people have been confirmed to have died as a result of the recent weather in Southern Thailand.
Especially the Ban Ton Harn Ville in Khao Phanom district has been hit hard. Luckily there has also been a feel good story, at least partially!

I'm looking forward to a speedy recovery for Koh Samui and all affected areas and that rebuilding may lead to a good job done and will prevent unnecessary and avoidable flood situations.

Camille

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am an engineer and have a house in Samui and when I, at my own expenses
proposed to pull a road to my house and further down my design was rejected
because I had incorporated a road drainage system as it should be and work.
Instead I had to adapt the local style and everytime (and this is not
hindsight) I look at the water housekeeping in my neighbourhood I cannot be
but astonished there are not more floods. OK granted, this was an
exceptional situation but nevertheless drainage on the island is at
shambles. This together with widespread uncontrolled drilling of wells and
harvesting water with scant regard for the future will lead to more tears
to come.

Camille said...

Hi,

Yours is one of the of the few sane emails I received over the last couple of days and I fully agree. As it seems a lot of Thais are fed up as well with the rampant corruption which is at the root of a lot of the problems that Samui is facing and maybe a little bit can be chipped away, but it's not going to be easy. We can only hope that this was a wake up call!

Judith said...

Just wanted to thank you for your update on the flood situation on the islands. Haven't heard from my daughter since last Saturday when she was on Koh Phangan, and I have been quite concerned, especially as we're supposed to meet up at Bangkok airport Tusa April 5th.
So, thanks again, it's reassuring to know things are looking better.

Camille said...

Hi Judith,

Hope that everything will work out fine for you. There are no missing persons reported on Koh Phangang so I guess that she will be all right.

Angela said...

Thanks for replying - internet is back up for them today on Koh Phangan and they've confirmed they're safe. Cut off as bridges were washed away, but people have managed to get gasoline, food and water over to them - can't believe this hasn't appeared on international news here!

Many thanks again and I wish everyone there well in recovering

Angela

Camille said...

That's good news Angela and better get used to it, the big news reporters are always behind the facts! The little bloggers like me have their ears to the ground and can give you more accurate updates and faster!

Malcolm said...

Hey been reading your blog recently as we are travelling to Thailand on Sat and getting married in Koh samui at Rockys mid April. fingers crossed it will be ok. Where is your dive centre based as we will be looking to do some diving when we are there.

Thanks again for your informative Blog.

Malcolm

Camille said...

Hi Malcolm,

Hope all be well for you and congrats on getting married.

You can check my dive website of info on the dive center, they are located in two resorts on Samui but we do picks from all over the island when you book!

Eglantine said...

Hi Camille,
Thanks a lot again for your message.

It was difficult for us to take the decision to cancel our holidays but I gave birth to twins a year ago and we haven't had holidays since so these holidays are very important for us and we need restful and sunny holidays.

but we really look forward to coming soon to Koh Samui.

Thanks a lot also for your very interesting blog, we will donate soon...

best regards and we hope that the weather will be getting better and better and that there will not been too important damages

Eglantine

Camille said...

Hi Eglantine,

No problem, gully understand and appreciate your decision, hope you can make it at a later stage to Samui!

Joakim said...

Hello Camille,

Good morning, I must say your website and blog is one of the most useful sources of information regarding weather situation on Samui, it is clear and completely honest. As a Director of a resort in Samui, it very useful tool to gather information and keep updated, especially as I am based mostly in Bangkok. Keep up the good work! Hopefully things will get back to normal now.

Camille said...

Hi Joakim,

Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated! I try to do my best and I hope things will improve quickly. Did I review your resort yet?

Augustin said...

Hello Camille,

Do you have some récent news from Koh Samui?

What do you think for next week? We arrive on sunday.
We are staying in the northen part at the Melati, I did not suceed in calling them.
Do you have information from this part?

Thanks for your help

Augustin

Rosanna said...

Hi Camille,

Just wanted to know if you got any info of this resort as I have a newly wed couple friend staying there. I am worried about them.

Camille said...

Hi Rosanna,

Sorry, I have no information on individual resorts but your friends should be fine.

Paul said...

I know it's a long shot and you probably have had thousands of similar requests. I'm due in Samui on 12 April and was wondering if you would have any news on the place we are staying? It's the Kings Garden Resort on Chaweng beach. Any info would be appreciated. Thank You Paul

Tim said...

Hi Camille,

Nice blog i will sett up some donation for you :=)
How is the status on samui right now? Me end my friends are travel to Thailand next week, destination koh samui. We have rented a house on chaweng beach and planed to stay there from 6 april to 20th of april.

What do you recommend? Are there just a big mess whit everything right now? Are the bar`s and clubs etc open?

Best regards and thanks for a great blog.
Tim from Sweden…

Camille said...

Hi Kim,

-If you're planning to visit Koh Samui within a week or so, expect a damaged island with a lot of clean up and repair work going on. I'm sure that hotels that aren't affected will do their uttermost best to accommodate you but Samui won't be at it's prettiest!

-If you're planning to visit Samui around mid April, I would expect a lot of damage and debris been taken care of and your visit should be fine.

-Anybody planning on visiting towards the end of April or early May or even later, don't worry. Do not reschedule for November, that's usually Samui's rainy season!

Bars and clubs will, be open, don’t worry!

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille.
I am going to Krabi on thursday 7. april together with my two small kids og my old parents.
I have been following the weather news closely. Do you know how bad things are at Aonang beach? Is it wisely to go there? Is there any hope for a nice and sunny holiday?

Thank you:-)

Rikke

Camille said...

Hi Rikke,

Just spoke to a friend in Ao Nang yesterday and he said that besides the rain everything is just fine in Ao Nang and apparently the road between Ao Nang and Krabi airport is open. He's going there today and will let me know later today.