Tropical Storm Pabuk caused the collapse of power lines along a main street at Pak Phanang district in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand on Friday. Photo by EPA
Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Pabuk moved into the Andaman Sea after killing three people in Thailand, authorities said Saturday.
The storm was downgraded into a depression as it moved west and residents evaucated into shelters returned to their homes in coastal areas, CNN reported. Evacuated were 34,089 people from 240 affected areas in Nakhon Si Thammarat, including Pak Phanang, Muang, Hua Sai, Khanom, Sichon and Tha Sala, Chaiyapol Titisak, director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, told the Bangkok Post on Saturday.
Flights resumed Saturday to airports in the eastern Gulf of Thailand area. Ferry services to Koh Samui also resumed, according to the island's chief, Kittipop Roddon. Boat service to Koh Tao remained suspended due to high waves.
Torrential rain could bring flooding and possible mudslides from the Phuket mountain range on the western side of the peninsula, forecasters warn.
Killed were two elderly people in Nakhon Si Thammarat and a third after his fishing boat capsized in Pattani, according to Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
The storm Pabuk, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 59 miles per hour, made landfall around 3:30 p.m. Friday in the Pak Panang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province about 380 miles south of Bangkok, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Some holiday vacationers were temporarily stranded on Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao islands, along with islands in the Andaman Sea such as Phuket and Koh Phi Phi -- made famous by the movie The Beach.
The only typhoon ever to make landfall in the Southeast Asian nation was Typhoon Gay in 1989.
In 1966, Tropical Storm Harriet was last the tropical storm to make landfall in Thailand
