PHUKET: Ten boats have flipped off Phi Phi as a severe storm slammed the Phuket region this afternoon with forecasters warning that worse is to come, telling all boat captains to put to shore immediately around the Andaman region.

The outlook is for winds gusting up to 50 kmh and for waves of up to three metres. A forecaster at the Phuket-based Southern Meteorological Centre (West Coast) said: ''This is an extremely dangerous storm. We would advise people to stay off the water and not to venture out on the roads.''

At least 13 people have been killed on the roads in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi in crashes in the past two days.

At 11.40am today near Kalai, on the road between Phuket and Phang Nga Town, four people were killed in a crash involving two pickups and a saloon car.

Nine died as the result of a crash between pickups in Phang Nga last night, with six deaths at the scene and three more succumbing in hospital.

The boats that overturned off Phi Phi today were longtails, moored close to shore. A foreigner injured on Phi Phi and now in a bad condition in Phi Phi Hospital cannot be transferred out and is trapped by the weather.

The storm is expected to lash Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi through until Tuesday.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation put its work teams on 24-hour standby this week and the storm has come a little later than expected.