Strong winds are coming our way

THE opening sentence in June Wong’s “So Aunty, So What?” column ( The Star, June 27), “Of late, thunderstorms have been a scary thing for me”, made me recall the many times in the last few years that I was rudely awakened in the early hours of the morning by the scary sound of strong winds, the speed and strength of which I had never experienced in over 60 years of living in Muar.

There were strong winds in the past but never of such velocity and potency. In one incident, my potted bamboo plant, which could only be lifted by three people, toppled heavily to the ground and plastic pails were plucked up as if they were mere pieces of paper and strewn all over the garden.

While I watched these things being blown about, I wondered where the winds had originated. As a layman, I can only attribute it to the relentless and indiscriminate deforestation and levelling of hills to make way for highways and other structures in the name of development.

What in the past acted as natural wind traps have been removed, giving the winds an unhindered passage through.

Perhaps I am wrong but watching the winds gushing through in unhindered fashion made me feel exposed and unprotected, and terribly scared.

Would we, one day, come to experience the typhoons that cause untold misery in countries like the Philippines or Myanmar?

The winds seem to be blowing with increased strength over the passing years, and the temperature is rising in tandem with the increased rate of development, deforestation and rising pollution levels.

I may not be absolutely right but I believe I may not be entirely wrong either in saying that relentless and indiscriminate clearing of forests and extensive levelling of hills for development is the main factor for the drastic ecological changes that have hit our country in the last decade or so.

When the winds abated, my fears subsided – for the time being. In the days ahead, the winds will return. Will they be much stronger and more destructive?

In the meantime, I had to have my tall, swaying TV antenna (a relic of the pre-Astro and pre-Unifi era when Muarians used the skyhigh antenna to tap into the more varied TV fare from Singapore) taken down as the increased strength of the present-day winds pose a real risk.

A collapsed TV antenna of this size could cause unwarranted damage to both property and humans.

TAM YONG YUEE Muar