Thunderstorm wreaks havoc in Sibu

SIBU - A ferocious thunderstorm that occurred at about 6pm yesterday as the Muslim community was getting ready to break their fast caused major damage in Sibu town.

The uprooted trees, flying and dangling roofs on power and telecommunication wires, and poor visibility terrified the locals, who had never experienced anything like it before.

"I could not see anything. Traffic flow was very slow,” said Lerry Silas, a teacher who was among the Catholics going for a special mass service held in conjunction with the Holy Week prior to Good Friday and Easter Sunday this week.

As many Chinese families from out of town returned for the Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, yesterday morning, traffic was also congested as they went out for dinner or looked for some Malay delicacies at the Ramadan Bazaar at the Sibu Town Square Phase Two.

Things were also not good at the town square.

In a video circulated on social media, traders and customers were seen desperately clinging to the tent poles to keep the tents from being blown off the ground by the fierce wind, and screams could be heard in the background as lightning and thunder struck.

Sibu Municipal Council chairman Clarence Ting Ing Horh, in his Facebook posting, said that Jalan Merdeka Barat resembled a war zone with trees breaching fences of houses.

He himself stayed on the ground till the wee hours to monitor council workers, firemen, Works Department staff, and even the Sibu 4x4 Team clearing fallen trees along Jalan Merdeka Barat, Jalan Wong Soon Kai, Brooke Drive, Jalan Merdeka, Jalan Au Yong, Jalan Cherry, and Jalan Pahlawan.

"Yes, this day was an extraordinary day, it is rare to see such fury in the weather that lasted for 45 minutes. The only bright spot is that I didn’t hear of any casualties,” he wrote about what he called a ‘typhoon-grade thunderstorm’.

Another widely shared video showed a unit of a flat at the Sibu district police headquarters being badly damaged after the wall collapsed.

Sibu District Police Chief ACP Zulkipli Suhaili, when contacted, confirmed the incident and said that the strong wind had damaged six apartment units where police officers and their families were staying.

However, he said there were no casualties reported in the incident. - BERNAMA