Storm damages 140 houses in Besut

 

A total of 140 families were affected by a storm which hit several areas in this district last night.

Kuala Besut state constituency coordinating officer Azbi Salleh said 130 houses in 10 villages in Kuala Besut and 10 houses in Kampung Batu 13 and Kampung Bekok in Hulu Besut were damaged by the storm and heavy rain about 8pm.

Some houses had their roofs blown away while others were crushed by uprooted trees, he told Bernama today.

“Among the worst affected areas here (Kuala Besut) are Kampung Pengkalan Atap, Kampung Pantai, Kampung Tengah, Kampung Nail and Kampung Payang.

“Fortunately, there were no casualties,” he said.

Napisah Hussin, 67, a resident of Kampung Pengkalan Atap, said she felt anxious when seeing part of her house roof ripped off by strong winds.

“At the time of the incident, I was alone with my 34-year-old son who is bedridden after suffering a stroke,” she said.

She said neighbours helped carry her son to another house nearby.

Strong winds in Labuan

Meanwhile, in Labuan, several houses in five villages were badly damaged after their roofs were blown away due to strong winds this afternoon.

The 3pm incident involved Kampung Layang-Layangan, Kampung Tanjung Aru, Kampung Kilan, Kampung Lubok Temiang and Kampung Sungai Bedaun.

It also caused the ceiling of the multipurpose hall at Sungai Labu Mosque to collapse, but no casualties were reported.

Strong winds and thunderstorms since last night also uprooted dozens of large trees along the main road to several villages, while a number of houses in Kampung Lubok Temiang and Kampung Sungai Labu were damaged by falling trees.

Labuan Fire and Rescue Department director Ismaidi Ismail told Bernama that the department’s operation room has been receiving non-stop emergency calls since last night.

“We have dispatched our team to cut and remove trees that hit houses and clear the fallen trees on the main road,” he said.

On Friday, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said the low-pressure weather system in the western Philippines is expected to move towards eastern Vietnam from July 9 to 13.

It said the situation has the potential to bring along strong westerly winds and could cause squall line incidents.

This could result in heavy rain with thunderstorms and strong winds in northern Sarawak (Bintulu, Miri and Limbang), western Sabah and Labuan from July 9 to 10 and the northern states of the Peninsula from July 11 to 13.

- Bernama