Electricity failed briefly at Surakul Stadium in Phuket City tonight as a torrential storm deluged Phuket FC's game against PTT Rayong. Rain was still falling steadily one hour later.


PHUKET: Small boats on Phuket and along the Andaman coast are being warned not to put to sea today. Conditions will grow even worse between Monday and Wednesday, weather forecasters predict.

''Small boats shouldn't venture out between today and Wednesday,'' a spokesman for the the Phuket-based Southern Meteorological Centre (West Coast) told Phuketwan.

''We think even ferries and larger boats need to check that they are able to cope.''

The centre's warning to small boats was formally issued at 11am today in spite of a new regulation that states such small boats warnings must have the endorsement of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

A spokesperson at the DDPM said the department would also issue a warning as soon as the information from the meteorological centre had been absorbed.

''The weather looks likely to be much worse on Tuesday and Wednesday, and it's bad enough now not to put to sea,'' the weather forecaster spokesperson said.

He added that winds of 35-40 kph were likely with stronger gusts, and waves rising up to four metres offshore.

Phuket and the Andaman region have had a number of close calls already this year with boat ''captains'' putting to sea in bad weather despite worrying forecasts.

Hundreds of tourists have had to be rescued from stuck ferries, speedboats and strandings on isolated islands off Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga. One live-aboard dive boat sank.