Penang, Kedah & Perak told to brace for more rain

KUALA LUMPUR — The worst is yet to be over for Penang, Kedah and Perak after the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) on Monday (Nov 6) issued an alert for the states to prepare for heavy rain as the number of flood evacuees swelled to 10,000.

Given the foreboding forecast, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi urged people in the affected states to be prepared to face any eventuality.

MMD has projected that heavy rain is expected to last until February for most areas in the three north-western states.

The current wet weather, brought about by climate change, would likely affect Sabah and Sarawak as well.

Flash floods caused by hours of torrential rain killed seven people in Penang over the weekend. No deaths have been reported in Kedah or Perak so far.

Some 10,000 people in the three states were evacuated to 87 relief centres as well.

Penang is the worst affected state, with over half of its land area submerged in flood waters following the heavy downpour that averaged more than 250mm over the weekend.

The storm also triggered landslides and uprooted trees.

Military forces have been deployed to help rescue thousands of displaced people in the state.

It will also help in flood relief work, said defence minister Hishamuddin Hussein on Monday.

“Our focus is on post-flood work such as clearing blocked roads and helping in cleaning up the affected areas. I have urged the Royal Engineer’s Army Regiment to repair the damaged houses and infrastructure as well,” he said.

Mr Zahid said the flood situation in Penang should serve as a lesson to all, particularly the MMD, in providing early warning to enable authorities to make early preparations.

“The MMD has a forecast of the weather conditions. We are concerned that when the MMD do not provide these forecast, then we are not able to make early preparations. If we have gotten the forecast earlier, then we can evacuate the people and minimise the impact,” he said.

“What happened in Penang should serve as a lesson... I am not pointing fingers at anyone but if the department can provide weather forecast earlier, then evacuation efforts can be made earlier as well.”

He also assured that aid will be distributed to the victims in Penang as soon as Tuesday (Nov 7).

“I have discussed with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim to confirm the list of those being evacuated by today (Nov 6) so aid can be handed out tomorrow (Tuesday),” he said.

With the state still reeling from the unprecedented floods, legislators at the Penang legislative assembly set aside their political differences and approved on Monday morning an emergency motion on the storm.

State executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow tabled the motion that called on all agencies to improve and review the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) especially in getting information across, mobilising rescue work and channelling assistance to victims effectively.

The motion also called on all relevant agencies to work together to resolve flood issues in the state with the implementation of an overall flood mitigation project while increasing public awareness on the importance of preserving the environment.

No one objected to Mr Chow’s motion after it was read out.

The first person to express support of the motion was the state Opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblyman, Mr Muhammad Farid Saad.

“The disaster affected almost everyone in the state and I fully support this motion in extending our condolences to the affected victims and thanking all agencies who went down to assist the victims,” he said. AGENCIES