🚨 Great Hat Crisis: Heaviest Floods in Years

Hat Yai, a southern economic city, is facing the worst floods in years (data as of Nov. 25, 2025) that are not just seasonal floods, but crises that reflect structural problems and the effects of deteriorating "extreme weather."

🌧️ 300 years of rain collapsed the Guinea Ditch basin.

At the heart of this crisis is record-breaking rainfall. Data from the Irrigation Department and the State Department indicate that Hat Yai faces three days of cumulative rainfall, up to 630 mm (between 19 and 21 Nov 68), which is significantly higher than the cumulative rainfall of the 2010 Great Flood (428 mm). Some sources even indicate that it is the heaviest rainfall in 300 years.

The constant "rain soaking" for days, causing the soil to reach an aquifer no longer possible, so a huge mass of water quickly flows into the guinea canal basin system.

🏘️ a city that is a "main water-getting point" and slow to drain.

GISTDA analyzed that this flood was caused by a complex structural problem in the guinea canal basin:

Topographic: The watershed is upstream in the area of Neem and then flows through the city of Hat Yai before descending into Lake Songkhla. The inclined slope causes the water mass to flow quickly into the lowland area.

Obstacle city plan: Downtown Hat Yai is located in an extensive lowland area, thus becoming the "main water-receiving point" of the entire basin, coupled with the dense expansion of the city, resulting in a large number of structures, a significant reduction in water-to-ground seepage.

Water comes quickly and slowly: As a result, "water comes down quickly, but it drains slowly," so the water floods the urban area quickly and violently.

🌊 "peak critical" water levels and widespread damage.

The situation as at 25 Nov 2025 remains at a "critical" stage.

Water Level: In many areas, the flood level has reached 2-3 meters, which is clearly higher than the 2010 Great Flood. The main roads have been cut off. All kinds of cars cannot travel. Pram is required to provide assistance.

Impact: A total of more than 6.97 lakh people were affected (in Songkhla province). Only in Hat Yai, about 1.5 lakh people were affected. More than 25,000 homes, schools and hospitals were heavily damaged.

Public Service: Utilities such as waterworks are disrupted due to flooding of water filtration plants more than 3 meters high.

🆘 Lessons to be reviewed: alarm and management

In addition to severe natural disasters, there are criticisms of management and warning systems, with the observation that:

Warning system failure / delay: There are doubts about the effectiveness of the warning system, due to the very high amount of rain, but the alert may not keep up with the rapidly emerging situation of violence.

Coordination: The provision of assistance was difficult and delayed at some point, due to insufficient troops and equipment to the large volume of victims, including running water problems and power outages that hindered access.

So this Great Hat Flood is not just an annual disaster, but a loud warning sign of the need to review water management plans, infrastructure development, and warning systems that need to keep pace with the "extreme weather" that will occur more often and harshly in the future.

# Flooding beach