Beach stuck between Hard Rock and political inaction

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There’s more evidence Pattaya Beach continues to wash away as the city drags its feet on erosion-mitigation plans. Seasonal rains and insufficient drainage systems are now taking chunks of the beachfront near the Hard Rock Hotel out to sea.

Persistent flooding that follows nearly every heavy rain in Pattaya is sending torrents of water to Beach Road, where it flows over the sidewalks and down onto the sand. Combined with the whipped-up seas, the sandy beachfront is now becoming a truly hard rock surface in front of the popular resort.

A university study recently predicted Pattaya Beach will disappear due to erosion in as few as five years. Yet the city still has not launched any program to reverse that. Even worse, Pattaya’s inability to get flooding under control and improve its rain-runoff drainage system is making matters worse.

No amount of sandbags city officials dump on the beach is going to work until officials fix the drains, solve the flooding problem and begin serious efforts to combat erosion.