The Star 10 Apr 16;
KOTA KINABALU: Some 35,000 litres of potable water will be shipped daily to the drought hit northern island of Banggi to address the critical situation there.
Kudat district officer Sapdin Ibrahim said it would be delivered to Pulau Banggi villagers using boats equipped with water tanks.
Sapdin said the move was necessary as the island’s treatment plant was shut down on Friday after the river there ran dry.
“This method is cheaper than using barges which would cost RM30,000 for a return trip,” he said.
Sapdin said a shipment of 3,000 cartons of bottled water, each containing 1.5 litres, had also been sent to the island to be distributed to the 10,000 villagers.
He said the villagers had been depending on a single spring at Kampung Timbang Dayang but water flow had dwindled to a trickle that it took more than an hour to fill up a 10-litre container.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau said parts of the west coast interior district would see intermittent rain from now.
“The Meteorological Services Department has forecasted wet weather until April 14.
“For this reason, no cloud seeding operations will be conducted during this period,” he said.
A midday downpour provided a much-needed respite over parts of Kota Kinabalu and other areas along Sabah’s west coast for nearly an hour.
Finally, some rain expected in Sabah
KRISTY INUS New Straits Times 9 Apr 16;
TUARAN: The dry spell here is finally expected to relent with rain forecasted starting tomorrow.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Madius Tangau said drizzles and intermittent rains can be expected at most areas until April 14 (Thursday).
Commenting on the cloud seeding operations, he said: "We did the first exercise on Thursday but received minimal success of rainfall, with just 30 minutes of rain.
Yesterday, the Royal Malaysian Air Force utilised its C130 aircraft so we were not able to conduct the cloud seeding.
"We will see if we can try again today but Sandakan, West Coast and the Interior regions in this State are forecasted to experience some rain today... and the whole of Sabah can expect wetness starting tomorrow so we will see," he said when asked if cloud seeding operations would be continued.
Madius told reporters this after officiating a Tuaran-level education event here.
Meanwhile, he said that a number of areas recorded temperatures over 37 degrees celsius for three consecutive days as of 4pm.
They are Arau in Perlis, Sik in Kedah, Ulu Perak in Perak and Kuala Lipis, Jerantut and Temerloh in Pahang.
"For Sabah as of 4pm yesterday, the districts being monitored recording between 35 to 37 Celsius for three consecutive days are Beaufort, Keningau, Kota Belud, Beluran and Kota Marudu," he added.
