A section of wall 20-meters long collapsed in front of Wat Sapam Thanmaram in Sapam, toppling one power pole and leaving three others leaning dangerously over.
Live power cables fell were strewn onto the northbound lane, bringing traffic to a standstill.
The power supply was cut off as soon as the authorities were notified and police at the scene began clearing the road of some of the smaller chunks of the rock wall and directed traffic safely around the cables.
The two-lane northbound section of road was then closed while cranes were brought in so workers could make repairs immediately.
“We have already cleared two poles off the road, and we’re clearing a third one now,” Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Lt Col Theerapol Tipcharoen told The Phuket News.
The road will be re-opened to traffic as soon as safely possible, he added.
A small landslide was also reported in front of the Patong City sign on Patong Hill, leaving stone, concrete and soil strewn onto the road. Kathu policemen arrived at the scene to lift the debris from the road by hand.
The Thai Meteorological Department recorded 87.8mm of rainfall in Phuket Town from 4am through to 10am today, while the weather monitoring station at Phuket International Airport recorded 30.8mm in the three hours from 10am through 1pm.
Officials from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket) urged residents to beware of landslides in several risk areas, including near exposed banks of local canals.
“Please beware of hill areas in Kamala, Surin and at Baan Bangtao Nok in Cheng Thalay, as well as Baan Wat Mai, Baan Na Kop in Chaolng, and some areas in Wichit,” one DDPM-Phuket officer said.
“We will be on 24-hour disaster-response standby for the next three to four days,” he added.
In case of emergencies, people are urged to call the DDPM national hotline at Tel: 1784* or the DDPM-Phuket office at 076-218444.
* Note: The 1784 hotline is to the national disaster-response centre in Bangkok, but reports to there will be relayed to Phuket.