Rain in Johor brings back the smiles

JOHOR BARU - Rain in certain parts of Johor today brought respite to the haze that engulfed the state in the past week.

Fears that the rain could be the result of cloud seeding and may be harmful turned out to be unfounded as checks with the Malaysian Meteorological Department revealed it was not induced.

The public were fearful that the rain may be harmful to the skin if it was due to cloud seeding.

Samantha Yee, 20, who was on her lunch break had left the office without an umbrella.

"I received a text message which has been going around that a "man-made" or artificially-induced rain is harmful to the skin.

"I am now drenched as the rain had come unexpectedly," Yee said in Bandar Baru Uda here.

A spokesman for Meteorological Department said Pasir Gudang also enjoyed a respite as there was rain yesterday evening.

"We forecast rain in Johor to continue until end of the week," she said.

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin urged the public not to resort to panic buying or unnecessarily stocking up on food, as the health emergency declared was only to encourage people to stay indoors.

According to the Department of Environment website, the Air Pollutant Index (API) of most districts have gone down at 11am today.

Kota Tinggi registered a reading of 60, Larkin Lama (81), Muar (132) and Pasir Gudang (66). 

For more haze updates from AsiaOne, click here: