SHAH ALAM, 22 Oct: The ‘tornado’ in Pandamaran, Klang, yesterday is believed to have been caused by atmospheric instability.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) said that high air humidity, low level wind convergence and atmosphere instability acted as a catalyst to the formation of a big scale thunderstorm cloud.
“We issued a thunderstorm and heavy rain warning at about 1.53 pm.
“However, based on the weather radar echo, the formation of high intensity cloud started at about 2pm and ended at 3.10pm,” they said through a media statement.
MetMalaysia also said that thunderstorms and heavy rain is a normal occurrence during this period due to the monsoon transition.
The incident which took place for about 30 minutes around 2 pm yesterday witnessed the roof of 40 houses in the two PKNS apartment blocks in Pandamaran Jaya being blown off by wind and storm.
Selangor Kini reporters also received a video clip with a duration of 46 seconds through the WhatsApp application.
Based on the video clip, it is believed that the roof and the zinc fence of a warehouse keeping gas cylinders were blown off by the ‘tornado’ and strong thunderstorm.
The incident also caused some areas in Jalan Banting and Jalan Besar Pandamaran to be damaged badly when trees fell and some houses were reported to have been damaged.
Prior to this, a similar incident took place on October 15 in Pendang, Kedah, which witnessed a ‘tornado’ as high as a four-storey building forming after heavy rain hit the area which blew away the roofs and walls of several houses in Kampung Alor Besar.
At least 10 houses and a primary school in the area was badly damaged.
NS
