KUALA LUMPUR – By the end of the month, Selangor will have installed a revamped flood warning system that can provide a seven-day advance warning while forecasting areas which will be flooded.
The Malaysian Insight reported that the state Infrastructure and Agriculture Committee Chairman (exco) Izham Hashim said this can help the authorities to be better prepared.
“By the end of this month, we will have a system that helps to predict floods seven days in advance, and the areas that will likely be most affected.
“This will help us to prepare better and have rescue teams on alert,” said Izham.
The Pandan Indah assemblyman stated that the state had learned from last year’s terrible floods which inundated numerous places.
Selangor was not alone in being hit by the severe rainfall, with Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Pahang also falling victim throughout the weekend of December 17 and 18, 2022.
Over 70,000 people were evacuated and 54 died as a result of the floods, with 25 deaths in Selangor alone.
According to Izham, the state reviewed its flood management system after the crisis.
He added that even state personnel dispatched to deal with the deluge in December were either trapped on roadways or in their own flooded homes.
In order to avoid any recurrence of that, the state government is working on an automated system for waterway lock gates, allowing for faster response.
“With an automated system for our water gates, we don’t need to send people to handle them (manually), as this will take time.
“We are currently working on this and we hope to get it done soon,” he said.
Additionally, seeing that power stations are usually affected during floods, he said that the state intends to set up more electricity generators to be used during urgent times.
“This stops our pumps and water gates from working, so the generators have to be in place beforehand to prevent (that) from happening.
“We are now more experienced and committed to handling any sort of flood in the near future.” – The Vibes, March 12, 2022
