Pattaya's rebuilt beach sorely damaged by thunderstorm

A section of the rebuilt Pattaya beach washed during Tuesday afternoon's thunderstorm and flooding, exposing the sandbags underneath holding it together. A lot of the sandfill was washed into the sea, leaving large craters along the length of the 2.6 kilometre beach. (Photo by Chaiyot Pupattanapong)

CHON BURI: Pattaya's rebuilt beach was badly damaged by Tuesday afternoon’s thunderstorm, with much sand washed away by the torrential rain that pounded and flooded the seaside city.

The downpour and flood runoff gouged into the sandfill along the 2.6 kilometres of the remodelled beach, leaving large, unsightly craters.

Deputy mayor Manot Nongyai, municipal officials and workers surveyed the damaged sections late Tuesday night.

A front-end loader was sent to dredge sand from the sea to fill in the craters.

However, only some holes opposite the entrance to Pattaya Soi 2 were filled up with sand. Municipal workers could not fill the many craters in the area near the entrance of Pattaya Soi 6 down to South Pattaya because of tidal currents. Work was resuming on Wednesday.

The Marine Department budgeted more than 400 million baht to dredge the sand from an island off the coast and use it to expand the width of the beach to 35 metres, after it had been whittled away by years of tidal and storm erosion.

The recently completed project was due for handover to the city in the next couple of months - before it was damaged by Tuesday’s storm-flood.

A large crater gouged in the sand on rebuilt Pattaya beach by Tuesday's thunderstorm. (Photo by Chaiyot Pupattanapong)