Rain brings respite from heat and haze to Johor folk

JOHOR BARU: Rain in most districts in the state brought relief to the people after the state experienced a prolonged hot spell and haze.

It began around 7am in the coastal east, in areas like Kota Tinggi and Mersing yesterday and moved west to Batu Pahat, Muar, Pontian and Johor Baru.

A spokesperson from the Meteorological Department said that the department also recorded isolated showers in Segamat and in some parts of Mersing during the wee hours yesterday.

“We predict that there will be wet days ahead,” she said, adding that the wet weather was expected to last until tomorrow.

State Health and Environment executive councillor Datuk Ayub Rahmat said that the brief downpour helped reduce air pollutant particles that contributed to the haze in Muar.

“The few hours of rain had lessened the haze,” he said, adding that the state was expected to see rainy days ahead as the monsoon season was approaching.

Ayub said that the monsoon usually started early March, but due to changes in wind directions from the north, the wet season would only start somewhere around the third week of this month.

On its website, the Department of Environ-ment said Banting in Selangor recorded unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) reading yesterday morning.

The API reading in Shah Alam rose from moderate to unhealthy at 107 by 2pm.

Meanwhile, 10 areas recorded moderate API, namely Muar (51), Bukit Rambai (54), Nilai (55), Port Dickson (59), Balok Baru, Kuantan (65), Kangar (51), Kuala Selangor (59), Pelabuhan Klang (98), Petaling Jaya (96), and Batu Muda, Kuala Lumpur (63). Another 38 areas recorded good API reading.

API readings of between 0 to 50 are categorised as good, moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-300) and hazardous (more than 301).