Tuesday 5 April 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 5th April, 2011

Today's weather;

Samui woke up under a nice sunny sky this morning! Some deliveries to the island go slow, due to the bottle neck and floods in Surat Thani. Eggs and milk are very expensive. The clean up and repair work is full swing though and most of the water has receded from the roads on the island. Current temp at 7am is 27.5C

Yesterday saw plenty of sunshine and besides cleaning and fixing things, laundry was also a welcome option to many, clothes could dry again afterwards in the sun! Max temp reached 29.7C

More donations were received by Sean and Adam, keep the beer money coming people and also keep hitting the right buttons! It's much appreciated!




Recovery begins as rains ease by the Bangkok Post but Surat Thani is still critical.

Bt6.1bn relief fund as toll hits 51 dead, 29,000 ill by The Nation. Train travel remains suspended south of Chumphon, especially in areas from Thung Song to Surat Thani, where railway tracks remain under flood water.

A Public Health Ministry update yesterday gave a death toll of 51 for people drowned or otherwise killed in the two-week flooding crisis. The ministry said 29,414 people had become sick, including 227 suffering from stress or requiring counselling.
The number of people affected by the floods, updated yesterday by the government's ad-hoc relief centre, has reached 2,009,134, from 581,085 households. Those evacuated number 40,981, including 35,651 in Surat Thani. Around one million rai of farmland is flooded and 20,000 crew members of fishing trawlers are affected.

The Reggae pub a few days ago in Chaweng

A few people have asked how the situation is with respect to disease outbreak after the flood, a very good question. Samui should be fairly fine but large parts of South Thailand are badly affected.

Illness - mostly from respiratory problems - has struck more than 20,000 residents in flooded provinces in the South. They are seeking or receiving treatment at government clinics, hospitals, or from mobile medical units, Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said yesterday.

Land encroachers are blamed for the landslides in Southern Thailand, let's see if anything will be done to them in time to come!

Jack hammering the rock

Koh Lanta woke up under a nice blue sky and it looks like it's going to be a hot day! Current temp at 7am is 24.3C

Yesterday saw sunshine all day long and it was warm. Max temp reached 30.5C

Camille

22 comments:

Oliver said...

Hi Camille

Thanks for putting together a blog about Koh Samui- it's very informative and a good read.

I'm emailing you because I have a booking with a resort in Koh Samui from 7th-9th April and I was originally planning on getting the night train from Bangkok to Surathani on the evening of the 6th April and then get the morning ferry across to Koh Smaui.

After having read on your blog that the train service to Surathani is currently suspended, I was wondering what alternatives I have in case the train service is still suspended on the 7th April.

I would greatly appreciate your advice and look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards

Oliver

Camille said...

Hi Oliver,

Get off in Chumpon and take a ferry via Koh Tao and Koh Phangan to Samui, the ferries are running and the trip will be faster than taking the train down to Surat and taking a ferry there!

Andy said...

hey. great blog. amazing how useful it is just to read about whats going on on samui from real person, not a news out let or weather forecast site.

wanted to ask: can you give your take on weather forecast for samui / KPG / tao...i.e is there a site you use / can recommend?

because sometimes want to head down there but not if forecast says 5 days of cloud / rain. which they often do...even when your blog says sun is shining!

e.g want to go to KPG (to the new treehouse) in 3 oe 4 days time. but forecast dont look good, but nice blue sky in your pic there!

thanks!

andy

Lisa said...

Hi Camille,

I'm a travel agent in Brisbane & have honeymooners due to visit Koh Samui toward the end of this month. They are very concerned & stressed about the situation over there & I just wondered if you can give me first hand info on the state of the beaches.

They are staying at the Centara Villas, 111 Moo 2, Tambon Maret, Natien Beach, Surat Thani Koh Samui & I guess I just need to know from you whether you think the beach is ok, whether the shops etc will be ok by the end of the month. I realise now stocks are low & things do bounce back quickly but I just want to find out some info. I've been reading your blog which has been helpful so thanks for that.

It sounds like the weather has improved which is great news! I just need to update the clients and would appreciate some first hand local feedback. Appreciate your help.

Kind Regards, Lisa.

Camille said...

Hi Lisa,

Things are improving rapidly and providing there’s not another completely out of season rain event like we just has, everything should be back to normal by the end of the month and business as usual. Just got pictures from Centara Beach front which I will post in a moment but the hotel is up and running like usual already!

Some stock may be short now but as soon as the situation around Surat Thani town improves, all gods should be stocked up in no time since the ferries are running on a normal schedule since several days and the oceans are flat! Please reassure your customers, by the end of the month things should be just fine!

Hope this helps for now.

Stacey said...

Hi Camille,

Thank you for updating your followers daily, it's much appreciated!

I was just wondering if the flood pictures you've posted today are the current state of Samui?

I'm scheduled to arrive on Samui on May 1 and those pictures (Reggae Bar) make me a little nervous and question whether I should come.

Thanks!
Stacey

Camille said...

Hi Stacey,

As the text below the picture clearly states, that picture from the Reggae Pub was few days ago!

Now all water has more or less receded and all roads are open.

Kate said...

Hi, I hope your safe and well. I was just wondering if you think Koh Samui will be mostly back to normal and ready for Visitors in early June? Thanks Kate

Camille said...

Hi Kate,

Come June you probably won't even notice there was a flooding!

Camille said...

Hi Andy,

Go the top of my blog and look at the left hand top corner, above the donation button, there are two pages you can visit, one is the blog roll and link page, click on that and at the bottom of that page are various links to weather forecast sites. I use Windguru a lot, in my opinion the best and most reliable source.

A lot of time the forecasts use a expectation % in how they describe the chances of rain, anything more than 30 or 40% automatically means showers and rain icons! You need to be able to read between lines, kind of!

Hope this helps for now!

alex fuse said...

hi camille,

we booked our stay at bophut, koh samui yet but we are note sure if we should go there on friday 8.4.11 because of the flooding and the bad weather conditions...

what do you think? will the weather stay nice? did/will weather return to normal? is it possible to use the streets on samui? what about the cleanup-progress? Did the water disappear? was bophut really hit this hard?
Thank you very much for your advice!!!

Best wishes from chiang mai,

alexandra

Camille said...

Hi Alex,

Yes, certain parts of Bophud were hit pretty hard but as everywhere on Samui, repair and clean up work is in full progress. Most of the water has disappeared by now and all roads are accessible.

There's no serious rain for the next 7 days and I expect the weather to be in it's usual April mode, mainly hot! No guarantees though!

Lisa said...

You are awesome thank you so much!!!! This will definitely reassure the clients & I'll check the pics out shortly. I really appreciate your help. Take care - Lisa.

Camille said...

Hi Lisa,

You're welcome, the pix are up and running.

Ryan said...

Hi Camille,

Great Blog. This is the most informative website I have found about the current situation in Thailand.

I have planned to stay in Phuket on 7th and 8th April, then Koh Phi Phi 9th April - 12th April, then koh samui 13th April - 16th April, then Koh phangan 17th april - 20th April, then Koh Tao 21st April - 23rd April and then get the train back to Bangkok from Chumphon on 24 April.

We were hoping for a relaxing holiday on the beach with nice weather and to go to the Full moon party, will this still be possible in all of these places?

What is the situation regarding boats in between the islands?

Will have supplies returned to normal - ie - cash machines, water, food, electricity by Friday?

Thanks for your help and keep up the good work

Ryan

Camille said...

Hi Ryan,

On Phuket and Phi Phi all will be fine, business as usual, they never the amount of rain the rest of South suffered.

By the time you get to Samui, Phangan and Tao everything should be more or less back to normal. The ferries between the islands are already running since a few days.

Oliver said...

Hi Camille

Many thanks for your reply and for your alternative option :) I will take your advice and grab a ferry from Champon.

Kindest regards

Oliver

Camille said...

Good luck Oliver and enjoy your travels and Samui!

Craig said...

Hi

Camille thanks for your quick reply.

Camille said...

Hi Craig,

You're welcome, where did you actually hear this?

kelly b said...

Great blog camille been following you now for about a week or so.... You are my life line! Coming out on the 14th with my partner Ian, he has been so worried but with your blog it has really eased his nerves.
Keep up the good work x koh samui here we come:-) 1 holiday that is really needed....many thanks Kelly Bird x:-)x

Camille said...

Thanks Kelly, hope you and your partner will enjoy your stay on Samui!