KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — The haze may be clearing fast in most parts of the country but flood is set to inundate several states soon.

Meteorological Department director-general, Datuk Che Gayah Ismail said the northeast monsoon or better known as the monsoon season would be blowing in as early as the first week of November and was expected to taper off in March 2016.

“With the monsoon season around the corner, the country is expected to experience four episodes of heavy rain, lasting three to five days which could result in floods,” she told Bernama today.

Che Gayah said the East Coast states were expected to experience floods from November 2015 to January 2016 and West Sarawak from January to February.

“However, there is a lower risk of several states experiencing extremely severe floods and heavy rain with the growing presence of the El Nino phenomenon,” she said.

The El Nino phenomenon is expected to reduce the risk of heavy rain and major floods such as the one during the last monsoon season.

This phenomenon is the warming up of the sea’s surface for six consecutive months in every two to four years in the east Pacific Ocean.

So far, the Meteorological Department has issued a yellow level warning of heavy rain in Kelantan and Terengganu and the warning is expected to persist until next Tuesday.

In a yellow level warning, heavy rain is expected to last between one and three days. An orange level warning means moderate continuous rain for more than a day. In a red level warning, heavy rainfall reaching 100 mm or more is expected to persist for a day or more. — Bernama