RANTAU PANJANG: The current hot spell that is affecting the country, including Kelantan, has caused the Golok river, which separates Kelantan from Thailand, to dry up.

Villagers residing along the river said it had been drying up since two weeks ago.

A villager, who only wanted to be known as Che Zubaidah, said the Golok river had been drying up drastically due to the hot weather and this resulted in shallow water in certain areas.

"The drop in the water level of the river made it easy for people to cross over to Thailand. In some locations, the water level of the river is still deep and locals still have to use the sampan to cross," the 56-year-old mother of four said.

The heatwave has also caused the water level of the Kelantan river in Kota Baru near here to drop slightly.

Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (Kada) chairman Muhammad Husin, in a posting on his Facebook today, said the on-going hot spell has resulted in the water level of the Kelantan river to drop to 2.48m yesterday.

Muhammad said he was informed about this during his visit to the construction site of Kemubu pump project yesterday evening.

"During the visit, l was given a short briefing by Kada engineers over the latest progress of the project.

"Seeing this difficult situation, it is impossible for us at the moment to get the water from Kemubu pump to channel to farmers," he said.

He added that Kada would find the best solution to solve the problem such as using dual-function tube well and conducting cloud seeding.

"Kada plans to conduct the cloud seeding this week. Apart from that, l also urge the contractors to speed up the construction of the project to ease the problem faced by farmers," he said.

Meanwhile, Kelantan police chief Datuk Muhamad Zaki Harun said the General Operations Force stationed at the Malaysia-Thailand border in the state have been instructed to beef up their surveillance on cross-border activities.

"We do not want people to take advantage of the situation to sent illegal goods to the neighbouring country and vice versa," he said.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/03/1029870/gof-step-border-enforcement-hot-weather-dries-golok-river