Hat Yai's Historic Flood Prompts Mayor's Apology and Fast-Track Relief

A burdened Hat Yai woke up this week to receding water, mounting debris and a mayor publicly acknowledging that the city was caught napping. The rare official mea culpa came alongside promises of rapid clean-up and fresh cash injections for families and businesses smashed by the November deluge. While pumps are now humming and streets gradually re-emerging, many residents are asking whether the worst urban flood in southern Thailand’s modern history had to be this devastating.

A City Caught Off Guard

Six days of torrential rain, punctuated by a six-hour “Rain Bomb” that dumped more than 300 mm in the urban core, turned Hat Yai’s familiar basin topology into a giant bowl of brown water. Local authorities had relied on upstream gauges that suggested the Sadao surge remained 3 m away; instead, a late-night cloudburst over Khao Kho Hong brought the flood from an unexpected angle. Mayor Narongporn Na Phatthalung told viewers of a prime-time talk show that the miscalculation was “our collective mistake”, citing incomplete data, equipment failures and a communication blackout once telephone towers went under.

What Went Wrong

In the mayor’s own account, coordination between the Royal Irrigation Department, the Meteorological Department and municipal disaster units moved too slowly. A red warning flag went up at 20.00 on Friday, yet many residents still saw a green flag the next morning and assumed the danger had passed. The official insists his team never ordered the downgrade, while critics point to the absence of a single on-site commander after electricity, mobile service and broadband collapsed. Only five serviceable boats were left to cover sprawling neighbourhoods cut off by waist-deep currents; rescuers reported navigating in the dark by shouting rather than GPS.

Scale of the Damage

By Thursday afternoon water had dropped almost everywhere, but the toll is brutal. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation counts 145 deaths across the South, with 110 in Songkhla alone. Economists at Kasikorn Research estimate immediate economic losses around ฿25 B region-wide, of which Hat Yai carries roughly ฿6 B–฿12 B. The Hat Yai Hospital campus is littered with ruined diagnostic machines valued above ฿1 B; vendors at the iconic Kim Yong Market stand amid warped shutters and mud-logged inventories. Flights remain curtailed until at least 3 December, severing a key tourism artery to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Kuala Lumpur.

Voices From the Frontline

At Prince of Songkla University, which doubled as the largest evacuation centre, volunteers spooned rice porridge to infants while university medics stabilised dialysis patients ferried in on military trucks. “We had no idea the water would rise beyond 2010 levels,” said Suchada Klongnoi, whose stationery shop now resembles a junkyard of soggy ledgers and floating pens. Soldier Capt. Chanin Thepsiri described ferrying the bedridden through corridors where the only light came from headlamps: “The pumps failed, the phones died, but people still held out bamboo sticks for us to grab – that kept us moving.”

Government’s Recovery Blueprint

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has rolled out an eight-point support package: a one-year freeze on loan principals and interest up to ฿1 M, interest-free survival lending, easy repair credit for homes and trucks, expedited insurance payouts, full Social Security compensation, lump-sum death benefits of ฿2 M, special relief for SMEs plus targeted tax incentives to lure tourists back. Engineers from the Provincial Waterworks Authority are racing to reboot purification plants, while the Interior Ministry sets a 14-day target for power, telecoms and road links to return to pre-flood condition.

Experts Demand Structural Overhaul

Hydrologists such as Dr. Sonti Kachawat argue that Hat Yai’s celebrated Rama IX diversion canal can no longer cope with climate-jacked rainfall. They criticise the lack of a single, empowered incident commander, late predictive modelling and encroachment that turned the U-Tapao Canal into a bottle-neck. Environmental engineer Asst. Prof. Sitang Silailah calls for granular, street-level radar forecasts, integrated command centres and a new culture of household readiness – go-bags, backup radios and pre-agreed evacuation sites. “Technology exists,” she notes, “but leadership must ensure that data turns into action before another sky-bursts.”

Looking Ahead

For now the mayor pledges dawn-to-dusk clean-ups, river silt dredging and tougher enforcement on construction that blocks drainage. Many residents, mindful of the 630 mm three-day record that shattered every historic benchmark, want more than apologies. They seek proof that the next extreme-weather event will meet a city fortified by clearer warnings, redundant power grids, and leaders who stay visible when the lights go out.