Chonburi: Social media is sharing a clip of a storm with strong winds that knocked down trees and hit power lines, causing poles to break and explode, causing a power outage in the entire alley. Dashcam footage from a car at the Laeng Lae intersection on Bangsaen Road captured the moment an electric pole fell and sparks spread across the intersection. Later, the news team went to the scene in front of Wat Chaeng Charoen Don, Saensuk Subdistrict, Mueang District, Chonburi Province, and found about 20 electric poles falling on both houses and cars, causing a power outage across a wide area. Later, Bangsaen Provincial Electricity Authority officials arrived at the scene to cut off the electricity, cut down trees from the road, and quickly installed new electric poles, which took several hours.
According to Thai News Agency, from asking the villagers who saw the incident, it was revealed that it was likely caused by a gust of wind during the rain. At that time, they were standing and taking shelter from the rain when they heard a 'boom' sound. At first, they thought it was an electrical transformer exploding. After a while, the sound came out intermittently. They later found out that a tree had fallen on an electrical pole, causing it to break. The storm toppled trees across the road and knocked down 23 electric poles.
Last night, in the Ban Mai community, Village 7, Nong Phra Ngai Subdistrict, Sai Noi District, Nonthaburi Province, a storm and strong winds knocked down more than 20 large trees in the area, crushing power lines. The trees also fell and blocked the entrance and exit roads, causing inconvenience to the villagers. From asking the villagers in the area, they said that yesterday around 3-4 pm, there was a heavy rainstorm, causing trees to fall and block the road. They called the relevant agencies yesterday to come and cut down the fallen trees, but no agencies came. Now, they can't drive in or out, and they can't go to work. An official from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand came to check on them, but then they disappeared. Now, it's difficult to enter or exit. There are 6 households living in this area, including children and the elderly. They don't dare walk through for fear of getting electrocuted.
Farmers in the city of elephants lament the continuous rain, causing their rice to drown and rot. The news team went to inspect the rice fields of villagers in Ban Kham Phong, Village No. 5, Kham Phong Subdistrict, Non Narai District, Surin Province, who planted wet-season rice after a long rain caused a lot of damage to the rice fields that had been sown. Some areas had to pump water in and out until they were exhausted because when pumping water out, it rained continuously. Mr. Onsi, aged 64, said that he has a rice field of 4 rai. After he had sown the rice for many days until the seedlings were growing, he had to encounter continuous rain for many days, causing all the rice that he had sown to be submerged in the water and damaged. He was at a loss as to where to find money to buy rice seeds. Even though he had pumped the water out many times, it still rained continuously.
After that, the news team went to survey the area of Rasi Salai Dam, Sisaket Province, the Lower Moon Water Supply and Maintenance Project, Office of Irrigation No. 8, Royal Irrigation Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The officials adjusted the water discharge in Rasi Salai Dam to balance the increased water volume. Originally, opening 1 gate 0.05 meters apart could discharge 4.182 cubic meters/minute. Adjusting the lift gate distance by another 0.05 meters will increase the water discharge to 8.440 cubic meters/minute.