TWO MEN died today on Phuket when a landslip on a hill behind Patong buried them alive. A third man is recovering in Patong Hospital.

Phuket has been warned to expect more landslips, more flooding and more danger on the roads and the seas with the wild and wet weather predicted to continue for at least three more days.

With surprising speed, the area of central Phuket that was blacked out yesterday when 12 power poles collapsed in a chain reaction was fully connected again today, with workers clearing debris despite driving rain.

Nobody was hurt in yesterday's collapse. But today's hillside slide about 1.30pm killed two men as they worked on a retaining wall for a resort that appears to be close to the 80-metre height limit.

Killed was Thai foreman Tawee Saknukeaw, 45, and a 35-year-old Burmese laborer, known by the single name, Nung.

Safety inspectors and the Deputy Mayor of Patong, Chairat Sukban, inspected the site as the rain continued to fall this afternoon. The site is extremely steep and a workers' camp of tin sheds sits alongside it.

A little lower down, Patong's sloping streets were awash and the Patong Hill road was running like a creek near the spot where large holes appeared in the road surface last year.

A weather bureau spokesman said that while rain had been patchy across the island until yesterday, today brought a deluge that drenched all areas.

Rain and seas surging up to two metres are likely to continue unabated for three days, he said, which is positive news for those concerned about the water level at the island's main reservoir, Bang Wad Dam.