PETALING JAYA: The repairs to fix the seven schools in Chukai, Kemaman, that were damaged by hailstones during a thunderstorm has been estimated to cost RM1.1 million.

According to Free Malaysia Today, the repair work for six of the seven schools is estimated to cost RM300,000.

The affected schools are SK Bukit Mentok, SK Seri Kemaman, SK Seri Iman, SMK Sultan Chukai, SMK Sultan Sulaiman and SMK Bukit Mentok.

The repair work will be carried out tomorrow, said Jelani Sulong, Terengganu State Education Department (JPNT) director.

Meanwhile, the cost to repair the damage to the seventh school, SM (Agama) Al Falah, is estimated to be at RM800,000.

The request for emergency funding from the education to repair the schools has been submitted.

244 houses were also damaged.

On Wednesday (October 23), Terengganu Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) director Rosli Zakaria said the rain occurred due to a combination of thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds.

“When a cumulonimbus cloud forms at a high altitude, the air temperature in the cloud exceeds the threshold value of the freezing level and ice chunks form in that layer.

“When it is very heavy, the ice that forms in the clouds does not have time to melt and falls with the rain as ice,“ he was quoted as saying.