- Kelantan River
Infobox River | river_name = Kelantan River
"Sungai Kelantan"
caption = "The Kelantan River in Kuala Krai (about 70 km inland from the river estuary) in Sep 2005. In Nov-Feb the river can rise over 8 metres above its normal level and flood the town"
origin = North-east Malaysia
mouth =South China Sea
basin_countries =Kelantan ,Malaysia
discharge = 500 m³/s
watershed =The Kelantan River (named "Sungai Kelantan" in
Malay language ) is the major river inKelantan ,Malaysia . It drains a catchment area of about 12000 km² in north-east Malaysia including part of theTaman Negara National Park , and flows northwards into theSouth China Sea . The rainfall over the area varies between 0 mm in the dry season (March-May) to 1750 mm in themonsoon season (November-January). The average runoff from the area is about 500 m³/s.cite web | author=Environmental Software and Services GmbH AUSTRIA | title=WaterWare: The Kelantan River Malaysian case study | year=1995-2006 | work=Waterware Water Resources Information Management System | url=http://www.ess.co.at/WATERWARE/malaysia.html | accessdate=2006-04-14]Name and extent
The description of the river is complicated by the local naming convention: instead of using the name "Kelantan river" from estuary to source, the name is only used for the section from the estuary to the confluence of its two main tributaries, the
Galas River and theLebir River , near the town ofKuala Krai . The same naming convention applies to these tributaries. Thus to describe the main river from source to mouth involves four names: the River Betis (first 20 miles from the source), then the River Nenggiri, then the River Galas, and finally the Kelantan River.cite web | author=GeoVision Productions | title=River Cruises and Rides | year=2000 | work=Kelantan, The Land of Lightning | url=http://www.geovision.com.my/kelantan/travel/nature/rivers/index.htm | accessdate=2006-04-14]Route
The river tributaries rise in the forested mountains where many
Orang Asli tribes live. The area is known for itslimestone outcrops and caves. Along the River Nenggeri section some cave systems show evidence of habitation going back 9000 years, such as Gua Cha near Kuala Betis.Lower down, Malay villages dot the banks of the river which passes through one of the most densely populated flood plains on the Malay Peninsular whose padi fields produce around 12% of Malaysian rice production.
The river flows past four important towns:
Pasir Mas ,Tumpat ,Kuala Krai and the state capitalKota Bharu , which lies near the mouth of the river. Towards the estuary there are several islands in the river.The area around the actual estuary, known as
Kuala Besar , is dotted with picturesque fishing villages, which are also well-known for the production ofbatik (a local patterned material produced by waxing and dyeing cloth) for which the State of Kelantan is famous.cite web|url=http://www.virtualmalaysia.com/destination/kelantan%20river.html|title=Kelantan River|work=VirtualMalaysia.Com - The Official e-Tourism Portal for The Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia|author=Virtual Malaysia|accessdate=2008-09-04]Flooding
The Kelantan River regularly overspills its banks during the months of November to February because of the northeast
monsoon season. The estimate flood volume under the 50 year flood condition at Kusial Bridge is about 6 billion m3. Severe flooding occurred in 1926 and 1967. In the 1967 floods 84% of the Kelantan population (537,000 people) were badly affected. Some 125,000 people were evacuated and 38 drowned.cite web|url=http://www.mail-archive.com/perakan@yahoogroups.com/msg01648.html|title=Kelantan braces for next 'Bah Merah'|work=The Mail Archive|year=2006|accessdate=2008-02-26]More recently a telemetric
flood forecasting system has been installed to give warning of high river levels. Some of the worst floods in recent years have been:cite web | author=Hazalizah Binti Hamzah | title=Roadmap toward Effective Flood Hazard Mapping in Malaysia | year=2005 | work=JICA region focused training course on flood hazard mapping | format=pdf | url=http://www.icharm.pwri.go.jp/centre/fhm2004_2005/fhm2005/pdfs/10_hazalizah.pdf | accessdate=2006-04-14]References
External links
* [http://infobanjir.water.gov.my/kelantanw.htm Kelantan online river level data] - click "Sg.Kelantan" for current week's river level readings taken every hour - or click the number in the "Station id" column to plot a graph.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Negara] Taman Negara
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