THE STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF VEGETATION ON STORM WAVE BASED ON NUMERICAL MODELING APPROACH: PABUK STORM SURGE CASE STUDY

At the midday of Friday 4th January 2019, the tropical storm ‘Pabuk’ hit Pak Phanang districts, Nakorn Sri Thammarat Province, Thailand. The 75-mph storm- induced a wave peak of 4.2m and brought significant property damage to the local people. There were reports of the many coastal villagers who were affected by storm- induced flooding near the river mouth area and storm surge at the shore which left watermarks and sand/mud depositions. In the past, in this area, there had been controversial issues regarding the construction of non-eco-friendly detached breakwaters which locals questioned about the Environmental Impact Assessment (Saengsupavanich, 2012). This storm event proved the insufficiency of the shore protection performance of the mentioned structures. Therefore, new alternatives for storm protection should be invented.