Hat Yai Mayor apologises for mistakes in flood response and vows swift recovery

Hat Yai Mayor Narongporn Na Phatthalung publicly apologised and admitted to mistakes in managing the severe flood crisis in Hat Yai during an appearance on the “Kammakorn Khao” programme on Friday.

The floods, which devastated the city, led to public outcry over the question, "Where is the Mayor?" In his heartfelt statement, Narongporn took full responsibility, apologising to the people of Hat Yai and providing a detailed explanation of the events that led to the crisis.

The first key point he mentioned was the “Rain Boom”: heavy rainfall that lasted for 6 hours, hitting the city centre—Hat Yai and Nammom—and causing over 300 millimetres of water to flood the area much faster than previous incidents.

The Mayor explained that before the disaster, the team had assessed the situation using data from the Royal Irrigation Department and the Meteorological Department, estimating that the water from Sadao was still 3 metres away from Hat Yai. This led to a belief that the situation was under control, as previous floods had been from that direction.

However, on the night of Saturday, the situation unexpectedly worsened when heavy rainfall hit Khao Kho Hong, an area previously unaffected.

"I apologise to all the people of Hat Yai for the misjudgement," he said, his voice heavy with regret, adding that it was a collective mistake involving several government agencies, including Irrigation, Meteorology, and the municipality.

Regarding the controversial “red and green flags”, he clarified that a red flag was raised at 8:00 PM on Friday to alert the public, noting that such decisions must be approved by the Governor. The flag was raised in line with standard procedures, and alerts were sent via Cell Broadcast.

The green flag seen in social media footage was from Thursday, when the situation was still under control and the water pump teams were actively working.

"I don’t know who changed the flags, but we never ordered the red flag to be lowered," he emphasised.

The Mayor also assured the public that he stayed on-site throughout the night during the flood, personally overseeing the evacuation of 700-800 people to Prince of Songkla University, including elderly residents and the injured. However, the major issue was the complete failure of phone and internet services, rendering communication impossible.

"I didn’t know who to communicate with because the phone lines were down, and there was no internet. Even the journalists who came had no internet access," he explained.

He also joined the rescue efforts, heading into District 8 with Gun Jompalang. However, many of the municipal boats were damaged, as only 5 boats were available to serve thousands of people.

"I gave up… I couldn’t do it anymore," was the most heart-wrenching confession from the Mayor.

At the end of his statement, he candidly asked for help, saying, "We really can’t handle this alone. I sincerely apologise to all the people of Hat Yai."

He stressed that this was an unprecedented disaster for the city, and immediate recovery efforts must include clean-up operations, restoring travel routes, and providing aid to all affected households.