SHAH ALAM: Cloud seeding will begin in 13 areas throughout the country, including Simunjan in Sarawak, starting tomorrow to help increase water levels in reservoirs, which have been affected by extreme dry weather over the last few weeks.
The exercise to be held over three days is also hoped to reduce the worsening haze, which saw five Sarawak districts at a hazardous air quality level.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the operation would run until Sept 5 and cover thirteen areas across Sarawak, Kedah and Perlis.
The eight areas in Sarawak are Batang Ai, Bakun, Murum, Bengoh, Gerugu, Assyakirin, Sika and Matang.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the National Disaster Management Committee chairman, said Sarawak needed urgent help, with the fires in Kalimantan spreading so widely they had affected about three-quarters of the state.
Five areas had been affected so far, and the number was likely to grow, he said. The Federal Government is working with the state, in particular Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, to keep watch across Sarawak.
Ahmad Zahid said the other five areas lie in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia, where a long hot spell rather than haze is the problem.
Cloud seeding would also be carried out over four Kedah dams, Pedu, Muda, Ahning and Beris, and the Timah Tasoh Dam in Perlis, to lift reservoir levels that have fallen critically low.
The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) will carry out the operation with the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) and the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
“The cloud seeding will be carried out as soon as possible. We will ask MetMalaysia to advise us on areas where the haze has reached dangerous levels so that operations can be directed to the most severely affected locations,” he said.
The haze has worsened over the past week.
Ahmad Zahid was speaking after officiating the 2026 Rural Youth Convention here, also attended by Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Rubiah Wang.
