Malaysian Meteorology Department Sunday issued an ungraded warning on strong wind and rough sea in the east coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

 

The conditions are dangerous to shipping and coastal activities, including fishing and ferry services, the department said.

 

Typhoon Durian, which was centered early Sunday morning near latitude 13.9 degrees North and longitude 114.3 degrees East, approximately 620 kilometers to the southeast of Nha Trang, Vietnam, was tracking westwards at 16 kilometers per hour (kmph), it said in a statement.

 

Therefore, the second category strong wind and rough sea warning issued previously has been upgraded to third category in the coastal waters of Sabah and Sarawak, it said.

 

Strong northwesterly to southwesterly wind of 50 to 60 kmph and rough sea of up to 5.5 meters over the coastal waters of Sabah and Sarawak are expected to persist until Wednesday, it said.

 

Strong northeasterly to northwesterly wind of 40 to 50 kmph and rough sea of up to 4.5 meters are also expected to persist till Wednesday in the east coastal waters in the peninsular, it added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2006)