Floods in Southern Thailand in December 2016 and January 2017

Abstract

A large scale flood disaster occurred in Southern Thailand in December, 2016 and January, 2017, resulting in 95 deaths. The majority of the 15 provinces in Southern Thailand suffered from the disaster and extensive, long-term damage was caused which distinguished this flood event from previous flood disasters. This paper reports the findings of a field survey conducted in February, 2017 and analyzes the precipitation phenomena by using ground rainfall data as well as satellite rainfall data because there were not enough ground rain gauges set in this region. Results revealed that this precipitation event had the highest intensity out of all precipitation events occurring over the last 11 years.