Expect heavy downpour till next month

Cloudy with a chance of rain: More frequent episodes of heavy rains and thunderstorms are in store for the Klang Valley and other parts of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia until early next month.

PETALING JAYA: The inter-monsoon season has begun, bringing more frequent downpours and thunderstorms to the Klang Valley and parts of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, including flash floods.

As of yesterday, water levels at several measuring stations in Selangor, Melaka and Sarawak exceeded the alert level.

The Meteorological Department said the inter-monsoon period, which started on Oct 6, was expected to last until early next month.

“Heavy rain and thunderstorms, as well as strong winds, in the early evening will occur more frequently in most west coast states and the interior of the peninsula, the west coast of Sabah and, western and central Sarawak,” it said in a statement.

Climate expert Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah from Universiti Malaya said the inter-monsoon period usually brought brief but very heavy rain and thunderstorms that last about half an hour.

This could cause flash floods in parts of the Klang Valley and the northern states on the west coast of the peninsula, such as Perak, Penang and Kedah, he said.

“Once the northeast monsoon begins in early November, it will be the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, as well as the northern states on the west coast that start to experience heavy rain,” he said.

On the likelihood of the La Nina weather phenomenon taking place towards the end of this year which could worsen the floods, Prof Azizan said the situation now “is neutral”.

La Nina is an irregular weather phenomenon which leads to a cooling of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which can cause unusually heavy rainfall in some parts of the world.

The website of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage showed water levels at several measuring stations exceeding the alert level yesterday.

These are Selangor’s Sungai Bernam SKC Bridge station in Hulu Selangor, Sarawak’s Bintulu Belaga Road station, Ng Merurung station in Kapit and the Long Tengoa station in Limbang.

In Melaka, those recording alert level readings were the Sungai Malim Klebang Besar and Sungai Duyong stations, both in Melaka Tengah.