Roofs blown off, trees uprooted in freak storm

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senorpepr
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Roofs blown off, trees uprooted in freak storm

#1 Postby senorpepr » Sat Feb 07, 2004 9:47 am

PETALING JAYA: A freak storm with winds of up to 30knots hit several areas here, catching thousands unawares and leaving a trail of destruction.

Three apartment blocks in Jalan Klang Lama, Puchong and Kelana Jaya had roofs or triangular gradient walls on the side of the roofs damaged while trees were uprooted along several roads.

Several cars and motorcycles parked near these apartments were also damaged.

In Kampung Lindungan, trees fell on five squatter houses while more than 10 houses were damaged when their roofs were blown away.

The affected residents were forced to move out of their houses to stay with friends and relatives.

Residents of Desa Mentari flats in Jalan Klang Lama were shocked when the triangular gradient walls of Blocks B2 and B3 fell from the 14th floors at the height of the storm at about 6.30pm.

K. Sarawanan, 33, who lived on the 11th floor of Block B2, said he was in the hall of his unit when the roof fell.

“At about 6.30pm, I heard a loud noise. Then, I saw the wall falling,” he said, adding that other residents also rushed out.

The developer, Mentari Properties, said the wall at the side of the roofs of Blocks B2 and B3 were either struck by lightning or blown away causing the wall to fall off.

”This is not common as lightning strikes the roof most of the time.

“The materials used in the wall had met the specifications required,” its director Ahmad Shazwan Zahar said.

“However, we have asked residents of the two units nearest to the damaged gradient walls in each of the block to evacuate as a safety precaution,” he said.

MPPJ president Datuk Abdul Karim Munisar said the resident's committee would prepare a report on the incident and a taskforce would be set up to investigate if there was structural defect in the affected blocks.

“The taskforce will take a week to prepare a report on the incident and another week to decide on further action,” he told reporters at the scene.

According to the Meteoro-logical Service Department, the Klang Valley experienced thunderstorms between 5.30pm and 7pm.

A spokesman said winds of 30knots were recorded for 15 minutes at the PJ weather station at about 6pm.

In Puchong, falling roof tiles damaged three cars in an apartment block in Pusat Bandar Puchong.

Sri Mekar Apartments Resi-dents Association chairman Wong Ban Lin said that in the 7pm incident, strong winds, followed by heavy downpour, forced ceramic tiles off the roof of Block A where his unit was located.

“The wind was so powerful that the tiles flew off the roof and crashed onto my car, smashing the driver's side window.

“Two of my neighbours' cars were also damaged,” Wong said.

In Kelana Jaya, many residents complained of backflow from their sewer pipes and roofs being blown away.

The areas affected were Jalan SS3/2 and SS3/58, as well as Kelana Parkview apartments.

Kampung Tunku assemblyman Datuk Dr Wong Sai Hou told The Star that most of the damage was caused by fallen tree branches and strong winds tearing off part of the roofs of several houses and apartments.

Fallen branches were reported along several roads including Jalan Lingkaran in Petaling Jaya, partially impeding traffic.

N. Nagaratnam, 52, a resident from SS3, said the storm started off with a downpour that be-came heavier with thunder and lightning.

Fazli Wahab, 25 who lives at the Puncak Seri Kelana Apart-ments, said the visibility during the time of the storm was bad as he was unable to see the nearby apartment blocks.

“The wind was very strong,'' said Fazli.

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That Report

#2 Postby Aslkahuna » Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:55 pm

of 30kt winds is probably a sustained wind based upon the WMO criteria of a 10 minute average which is lower than the one minute average we use and probably doesn't include gusts. Based upon the damage and the difference between reporting criteria, this was probably a storm with US sustained winds of about 35-40kt with peak gusts in the 50-55kt range. Contrary to popular opinion, severe thunderstorms do occur in the Tropics and I saw a number of them in the Philippines while I was there.

Steve
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#3 Postby senorpepr » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:51 pm

Very true. I've done my share of tropical forecasting and have seen in a few cases where severe thunderstorms have occured. High winds, large hail, and even tornadoes!
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I Personally Saw

#4 Postby Aslkahuna » Sat Feb 07, 2004 8:24 pm

four tornadoes in the Philippines and even have a photo of one on my homepage. I also saw a number of severes there and know of close to two dozen tornado occurrences in the Philippines-the last one occurring not too long ago when they had the heavy rains in the Visayas. Weatherwise has had some articles recently about tornadoes in Tropical Asia and worldwide and the general gist is that thanks in part to the movie "Twister" and the popularization of Storm Chasing and the proliferation of Chase Tours people worldwide are becoming more aware of tornadoes and although the US is still the hot zone for them, more and more data is coming in from other parts of the World.

Steve
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