Oh dear, this is simply happening way too close to home for comfort. Just a week ago, the heavy downpour brought upon a landspout that created havoc in Kedah. What’s a landspout, you ask?
According to CBS 5 News Channel:
By definition, a Landspout (once known as “Dust Tube Tornadoes”) is just a type of tornado. It is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with a cloud and the surface of the earth. What makes this different than the “typical” tornado, is how it develops and what it is attached to. Unlike the Supercellular Tornadoes, it does not move from base of the cloud to the ground. It actually develops near the surface and works it’s way up.
In the Kedah incident, several houses in the village and a Sekolah Kebangsaan Alor Besar building were damaged in the incident that occurred at around 4pm. The school’s computer lab and another building within the compound were also damaged.
And now, just this evening in fact, several Facebook users have uploaded posts what looks like another landspout that formed following the heavy rain and strong winds. When we say that it’s too close to home, we mean that it happened right here in Klang Valley. At Pandamaran in Klang, to be exact. Several scary-looking videos and pictures have been circulating online in the past hour or so, documenting roofs being torn away and flying off with the strong gust of wind.
Here:
It hasn’t been confirmed if the above videos were indeed the result of a landspout, or how long it actually lasted. We also cannot gauge the extent of the damage caused. We’ll update this post with more information as and when we have ‘em.
Meanwhile, we ask all Malaysians, especially those in Klang Valley, to be extra careful in times like these and above all, stay safe!