Kuala Lumpur Swathed In Choking Haze - Visibility 150 Yards

[hatrack]

Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur was blanketed in a choking haze Tuesday after smoke from over 500 fires in Indonesia made its way over to the country. The brown smog rapidly moved over the city and the surrounding Klang Valley in the late afternoon, covering the Petronas Towers, once the world's tallest buildings, and permeating office buildings with the smell of smoke.

The Environment Department said over 500 fires in Indonesia's Riau and South Sumatra provinces, as well as fires in Kalimantan and Malaysia's Sarawak state had made conditions hazy.

Lee Heng Keng, deputy director general of the Environment Department, said that the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre located in Singapore had detected the fires on Monday. "There were over 500 hotspots in Sumatra yesterday so we suspect it could be coming from that side," Lee told AFP.

EDIT

Meanwhile local news reports said visibility on a major highway southwest of the city was down to 150 metres (yards). Radio stations broadcast rush hour warnings for motorists to drive carefully through the haze. Cars in the city centre were forced to put on their headlights in the middle of the afternoon, while pedestrians walked with their hands over their mouths.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2005/050802123134.q0u11557.html

[NNadir]

1. What is interesting about the Link is this list of related headlines from

Agence France-Presse:



AFP NEWS WIRE

Most of Portugal under top-level wildfire alert

Lightning strikes airliners every 1,000 hours

Air quality over Kuala Lumpur area declared unhealthy due to haze

India's financial hub back on its feet, aid workers say worst not over yet

Death toll from west India deluge crosses 1,000 mark

Astrologers, numerologists, scientists fight over Mumbai deluge cause

Death toll from Turkey floods hits six

South Korea landslides, floods leave 13 dead or missing

Severe haze over western Malaysia set to worsen: officials

Protestors block trains in rain-hit India's financial capital.

All of these involve extreme weather.

[phantom power]

2. I'm glad the astrologers and numerologists are on the case.

We wouldn't want to dismiss "alternate theories" about meteorology. That would be prejudiced and elitist.

Maybe it would be less painful if I just kill myself now.