Umbrellas are Penangites’ best friend these days

No haze here: Blue sky seen over Penang after the rain cleared away the haze in George Town. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: From wearing masks, Penangites now cannot leave home without an umbrella as the wet spell has somewhat overshadowed the haze season.

Bank clerk Allysa Cheng, 42, said for the past two weeks, she has had a mini umbrella in her handbag and now finds it useful.

“It’s been raining a lot recently and sometimes suddenly.

“The umbrella is a gift from a friend and I had kept it in my cabinet for months.

“Now it is always with me and I walk from the parking lot to my office in Lebuh Pantai without having to check the sky,” she said yesterday.

She was among hundreds of other pedestrians seen walking with their umbrellas on “standby”.

Retired factory worker Noraisyah Hamid, 68, said while the rain was an inconvenience, she felt it was better than haze.

“Rain will wash away the pollutants in the air and clear the haze that has been plaguing us since early September.

“I feel suffocated with the polluted air caused by the haze. It’s cooling after the rain and I’ll take it as a blessing from above,” she said.

For days now, Penang and the other northern states have been experiencing short bouts of rain, leaving a bright blue sky in its wake.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department issued an alert-level continuous rain warning for Perlis, Kedah and Penang until today.

Strong wind coupled with high chance of precipitation are blowing from the west.

The department also issued thunderstorm warnings for several states including Penang, Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Sabah.