Heavy Rain Brings Relief to Palembang

Palembang (ANTARA) - Heavy rain began falling in several areas of Palembang, South Sumatra, on Saturday, to the delight of residents after more than three months of prolonged dry weather.

“Thank God, it has started raining today after Palembang endured drought and haze caused by forest and land fires for several months,” said Fudin, a resident of 7 Ulu sub-district, Seberang Ulu 1 district, Palembang, on Saturday.

He said the heavy rain, which fell on Palembang at around 3.30 pm local time, was a blessing for residents, particularly those struggling to obtain clean water and those affected by the frequent land fires caused by the prolonged dry season.

“The prolonged dry season has led to smoke from land fires blanketing Palembang for the past few months, affecting the health of people in the area,” Fudin said.

Yuli, a resident of Lorong Sepakat in Palembang’s 8 Ulu sub-district, expressed a similar view. She said that during the dry season local residents had struggled to obtain clean water for their daily needs and had been forced to buy it at a relatively high price.

Siswanto, head of the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Meteorological Station in Palembang, said the potential for rain-cloud formation had been detected through radiosonde observations, or atmospheric profiling, by the BMKG’s PM2.5 Musi 2 Palembang station at 7 am on Saturday (24 October).

The conditions were triggered by vertical wind movement that broke through an inversion layer, an atmospheric barrier that had kept smoke pollutants trapped close to the ground.

The potential for rain was also supported by the accelerated implementation of a hybrid Weather Modification Operation by a joint team. This included the intensive dispersal of dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) in the air to break up dense haze from forest and land fires in South Sumatra.