November 25, 2025 | 05:46 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Songkhla Province in Thailand has been declared a disaster zone after continuous heavy rains triggered major flooding in 16 administrative districts, including its largest city, Hat Yai. Governor Ratthasart Chidchoo announced the status on Monday morning, November 24, 2025, local time, and ordered immediate evacuation for children, the elderly, and sick residents.
Na Thawi district has been the most heavily impacted, with all 10 sub-districts and 92 villages submerged, affecting over 15,000 houses, or more than 50,000 people directly. Primary and secondary roads have been reported cut off, rendering land travel impossible and requiring evacuations to be conducted using boats.
The head of Na Thawi District, Warintorn Thongkhao, stated that temporary evacuation centers had been established in all sub-districts, but the evacuations were slow due to the terrain conditions. He made an urgent plea for assistance.
"Na Thawi is critically short of essential relief equipment, particularly flat-bottom boats required to access highly submerged areas and evacuate large numbers of people," he said, quoted from a Straits Times report on November 25, 2025. "We also urgently require prepared meals, drinking water, and basic necessities to distribute to the victims who remain stranded."
The Royal Irrigation Department reported that heavy monsoon triggered extreme rainfall measuring up to 630 mm over three days, causing total flooding in 10 provinces in southern Thailand. Hat Yai city in Songkhla Province, which directly borders Malaysia, was said to experience the worst flooding in 300 years, with rainfall reaching 335 mm on November 21, the most severe daily rainfall in three centuries.
The accumulated rainfall from November 19-21, reaching 630 mm, also surpassed the 2010 flood record of 428 mm over the same three-day period. This results in water levels of up to 2.5 meters high in the city.
A CNA report mentioned that the flooding in Hat Yai also cut off main access to several hotels, leaving over 1,000 tourists stranded in accommodations and at Hat Yai Airport. The situation was exacerbated with some areas experiencing power outages for safety reasons, while internet services and water supply systems were disrupted.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand led relief operations for tourists, including delivering basic supplies to hotels and arranging evacuations by large trucks and boats.
The government of Malaysia, also facing similar major flooding, reported around 4,000 of its citizens affected by the flooding in Hat Yai and urged them to be on alert in hotel lobbies awaiting evacuation by Thai authorities. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore (MFA) stated that its embassy in Bangkok was cooperating with the Thai government to provide consular assistance to Singaporeans in the affected area.
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