Rain Washes away Smog, but Causes Floods

[USA TODAY, Nov. 20, 1997]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Long-awaited monsoon rains are washing away the smoky haze from Malaysian skies, but the storms are also creating flooding and high winds that have left at least four people dead.

The rains, expected to continue through the week, are widely expected to extinguish the forest fires that have been burning for months in neighboring Indonesia, blanketing much of Southeast Asia with smog.

``The haze can more or less safely be said to be over,'' Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding was quoted as saying in Wednesday's New Straits Times.

But experts in the Malaysian weather office said the fires were still burning and a change in wind direction could bring the smog back over Malaysian cities.

The monsoon forced authorities Wednesday to evacuate more than 400 people from low-lying neighborhoods in Kuala Lumpur. The water had entered many homes and flooded arterial roads.

In Penang, about 180 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur, a tin roof flew off a roadside hotel and hit a man, killing him on Wednesday, The Star daily reported.

A 38-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter drowned Tuesday in a swollen river in Bachok, 240 miles northeast of the capital, police said. The two were crossing a wet wooden bridge when the daughter slipped and fell into the overflowing river. The mother jumped in to save her.

In the Petaling Jaya suburb of Kuala Lumpur, an 18-year-old woman was killed Monday when she fell into a flooded drain and was swept away.