2021 floods may recur this year

SHAH ALAM - The flood which took place at the end of last year may recur as the amount of rainfall is predicted to be the same or almost the same at the end of this year.

National Antarctic Research Center Meteorologist Professor Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah said the situation was expected to occur because the country’s weather was predicted to continue to be affected by La Nina until the end of this year with a probability of more than 60 per cent.

“According to the forecast, there is a possibility that by the end of this year we will face the same situation (rainfall) 2021/2022.

“Initially the CPC (Climate Prediction Center) predicted we can expect the climate to be neutral as usual, but the latest forecast is that La Nina will continue until the end of 2022,” he said.

The country was shocked by major floods that hit several states such as Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor and the Klang Valley at the end of last year and early this year.

Extreme rainfall was found to be a factor in the occurrence of major floods in some areas which also claimed lives and involved property damage amounting to billions of ringgit.

The La Nina phenomenon is the cold phase of the El Nino phenomenon which is the Southern Oscillation or ENSO, the main mode of natural climate variability due to the interaction of oceans and atmospheres in the Pacific Ocean.

On average the phenomenon recurs in two to five years and can occur in weak, moderate and strong category scales according to the degree of decrease in sea surface temperature in the central and eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean (for La Nina).