Sabah and Sarawak brace for floods as heavy rain

SK St Catherine Inanam flooded few months ago

After days of grappling with raging flood waters, those living in the East Coast states of Terengganu, Pahang and Kelantan can finally look forward to a respite after the Malaysian Meterological Department lifted the orange and yellow alert for heavy rain in the states.

A similar warning in Kedah and Perak have also been withdrawn.

However, a notice issued this morning said thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to persist in Sarawak till later today.
Strong winds, rough seas and thunderstorms are also expected off the coastal waters.

Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Johor have been hit by incessant rainfall during this monsoon season, causing 37,000 evacuees to flee their homes the past week.

People living in the states facing the South China Sea bore the brunt of the floods and they also had to put up with disrupted power supply while waiting to be rescued.

This morning, state newswire Bernama announced that the flood had claimed one victim in Pahang while two others are missing.

Reports that phone lines have been unstable had also affected rescue missions while utility firm Tenaga Nasional cut off power supply to 1,072 flooded electrical substations, affecting some 63,000 consumers.

Following the grid shutdown, water pumps at Syarikat Air Terengganu stalled and water supply too was cut off to 7,500 consumers.

Evacuation centres are now running at almost full capacity as rescue works continue.

While resources are now concentrated in the eastern states of the peninsula, a lawmaker in Sabah expressed concern that victims in the state have not been receiving sufficient help.

According to Inanam assemblyman Dr Roland Chia, a task force is needed to deal with the flooding problem in the state.

“My constituents have been suffering all these years and the BN state government is either playing dumb or ignoring the cries of the rakyat on these perennial flooding which have caused hardship to the residents and traffic commuters,” Chia was quoted as saying by The Borneo Post.

The politician claimed that there was insufficient funds allocated to clear drains and provide better irrigation under the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).

“There is none or zero allocation from the Federal Budget 2014 for flood mitigation programme in Sabah,” he said.

Chia also pointed out that only RM46.5 million was allocated to DID, of which RM15 million was given to Urban Drainage in Kota Kinabalu, an area with three Parliaments and 10 state constituencies.