GEORGE TOWN, June 6 (Bernama) -- A rare occasion of strong waves with heights up to 3.5metres hit the west coast of Penang and Kedah since 1pm today.
In Penang, not less than 11 houses in Kampung Tsunami Tanjung Bungah, here were reported inundated with sea water.
One of the villagers, Tan Eng Kee, 67 said the sea water was at the ankle level in his house while his house compound was all muddy because of it.
"Incidents like this had happened 20 years ago and it was the second worst after the Tsunami which happened last four years," he told Bernama here.
Due to this, he said the villagers had now started to build sand fortresses around their houses as preparation to avoid worse incidents.
In Padang Kota Lama and Persiaran Gurney here, Bernama checks also found the sea water had spilled on to the two main roads.The same happened in Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang , two famous tourist spots here which appeared vacant although businesses were still operating.
Meanwhile in Kedah, Bernama checks found most of the fishermen in Kuala Kedah were unable to go to sea the last two days because of the phenomenon.
"The fishermen here are worried that the big waves can damage to our boats,"said Shuhairi Salleh, 38, a villager from Kg Kuar, Kuala Kedah.
Another villager from Kampung Kuar Jawa, Kuala Kedah, Rosnah Din, 48, said the incident was the second since the past 12 years whereby during the 1pm incident today her house was flooded with sea water up to 0.2metres.
The director of the Forecast Centre of the Meteorology Department, Muhammad Helmi Abdullah, said the incident was a normal natural phenomenon and was due to the shift from northeast monsoon winds to southwest monsoon winds, which began on May 4.He said the phenomenon involving wind speed up to 50 knots was expected to last until this Friday.
