Avoiding a repeat of Dec 2021's floods

KUALA LUMPUR: It has been nearly one year since torrential downpours resulted in flash floods sweeping across most states in the peninsula, which left 54 people dead.

For 2022, the Meteorological Department has predicted the year-end monsoon to bring continuous rain from December 17 to 21 on the east coast.

Its director-general Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said wet weather conditions are expected to last until early next year due to the La Nina phenomenon and northeast monsoon.

The Irrigation and Drainage Department (DID) has also issued flash flood warnings for six states, namely Pahang, Terengganu, Johor, Perak, Penang and Negeri Sembilan.

Assessing last year’s flash floods and the casualties that took place, Dr Nurul Ashikin Mabahwi of Parti Pejuang Tanahair said this was mostly due to the country’s lack of flood preparedness.

“When you don’t prepare the community and officers to deal with floods that exceed the forecast, the same delayed operations from last year will happen again,” said Dr Nurul, who is also a researcher in flood risk management.

In order to avoid repeating the same mistakes that caused the loss of lives, she said authorities must focus on increasing manpower and logistics operations.

There is also a need to gather data on how many people are living in flood-prone areas, in order to identify the nearest shelters and ascertain that capacity matches demand.

Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the Central Disaster Management Committee, had said long-term solutions to resolve the issue of floods were needed urgently.

According to him, this would involve huge costs including a RM15 billion flood mitigation project implemented by the previous government. However, he said such efforts could ensure long-term flood management until 2100.

He added that the government would also get voluntary bodies on board to tackle and manage the upcoming floods.

While acknowledging that structural measures for flood mitigation would take time, Dr Nurul said the committee must take immediate steps to maintain and improve the country’s drains and rivers.

“It is very important for us to have a checklist and ensure that we clean all our clogged drains, as well as clean and deepen our rivers.

“This is because we have 189 river systems in Malaysia, but 85 are prone to flooding. The government must start ensuring that these 85 rivers are deepened, if necessary, and check its capacity.”

She also suggested for the government to simplify its command chain for better coordination among flood responders and ensure all alarms and warning systems were functioning well.

In order to speed up flood response, suitable roads and modes of transportation to access flood-prone areas need to be identified in advance, she added.

“There’s always room for improvement but if we manage to check the aspects I mentioned, I believe we can at least minimise the risk of floods.”