While Malaysia can experience some pretty bizarre weather, most people probably won’t raise much of an eyebrow when the rain pours really heavily, or when haze becomes so thick you cannot even see your own hands anymore. Biasa la right.
But what is less biasa is when you start seeing things like hail in our tropical country, or even weirder still, you start to see tornadoes! Yup, that’s right, Malaysia also experiences tornadoes, if you’ve ever wondered! Toto, we really aren’t in Kansas anymore.
In a most bizarre meteorological (that means weather, not meteors. We also confuse.) phenomenon, 3 villages in Tujang, Kedah fell before to the sudden destruction of a ‘tornado’ yesterday (20th October 2019) afternoon, as reported by the New Straits Times.
The occurrence, which is scientifically called a “landspout”, managed to damage over 20 houses and uprooted dozens of trees, sending many of the local residents immediately into a state of panic. Walao, if we see tornado we also panic la! A clip of the tornado sighting was uploaded to YouTube.
The ‘landspout’ was allegedly so powerful, it managed to tear the roofs off some houses, with over two dozen homes in Kampung Pida 4 Deli, Kampung Permatang Keriang and Kampung Gurindam reporting heavy damage.
A local resident, Nurul Fahana Shahidan, said she was watching television when suddenly, the roof of her home started to shake before being ripped clean off her house.
“It happened in the blink of an eye. Thank God I managed to grab my son and bring him to safety, before the ceiling collapsed and almost hit us,” she said.
According to the Why Files, ‘landspout’ tornadoes form as a growing convective cloud ingests and tightens a rotating boundary layer during an intense updraft. They are most commonly seen in areas with high-based storms and considerable low-level instability.
Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir has said that they will be distributing aid to the families affected by this sudden storm.
We hope that the affected families will be able to recover from such a harrowing incident!
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