By YU JI
yuji@thestar.com.my
THIS has been one of the wettest years on record and the weather could get worse in the next three months.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department department’s Sarawak director Wong Teck Kiong yesterday said rainfall had increased between 20% and 30% in the last six months. He attributed the bad weather to the La Nina phenomenon, which occurs once every few years.
Ismaili: The mother ships move constantly across the border, making them hard to track down. “La Nina is expected to peak between mid-January and mid-February. Rainfall could be up to 40% higher than normal during that period,” Wong told StarMetro.
Chinese New Year falls on Feb 3 next year. In the past decade, the festive season had coincided with several floods in low-lying areas of Kuching and Sibu.
Kuching, in particular, was flooded quite badly during Chinese New Year in 2003 and got worse the following year.
According to Wong, Sarawakians have been fairly lucky so far, because, although it has been wetter, the rains have typically fallen from the late afternoons until early mornings.
Had the same amount come within a shorter period of time, there might have already been floods, he said.
But Wong also said Sarawakians were not out of the woods yet. “You’ve got to remember our forecast tells us rainfall has not peaked yet.”
Every La Nina is proceeded by El Nino, which brings dry weather. This year, El Nino started weakening in May. For the duration of El Nino, state authorities had to shore up water levels with drastic measures like cloud seeding.
When La Nina arrived, suddenly about 30% more rain fell in June and July.
“This year is one of the few years without the mid-year haze because of the very rainy weather,” said Wong, adding that extra rain should continue to fall during evenings, with more at coastal areas.
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