THERE is no need to declare emergency in flood-hit Penang, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said. 

He said the situation in Penang was under control with the help and assistance from various federal and state agencies. 

“Emergency will be declared only if it is deemed necessary after consulting the federal government,” he told reporters at Komtar today. 

Penang was hit by a huge storm last night that brought heavy rain and strong wind, causing floods in all districts in the state. 

Lim said some 80% of the state was hit by floods and strong winds.

He added it was understood that Penang was affected by Typhoon Damrey that had earlier hit Vietnam, killed 19.

“This is the worst disaster, looking at the intensity of the rain in many locations that exceeded 200mm of rain. The Air Itam Dam recorded its highest reading at 315mm a day.”

The Drainage and Irrigation Department’s (DID) rainfall stations all had high readings from 2pm yesterday to 5am today.

On the island, the Sungai Pinang station in the northeast district recorded 289mm of rainfall, while the station in the Sungai Pinang main drainage (tali air Sungai Pinang) in the southwest district recorded 237mm.

Meanwhile, the stations at Pajak Song (northern Seberang Prai), Cerok Tok Kun (central Seberang Prai) and Simpang Ampat (southern Seberang Prai) recorded 372mm, 327mm and 165mm respectively.

“This is the highest rainfall we have seen in just 15 hours,” Lim said.

The continuous rain caused floods in all five districts in the state – 22 locations in the southwest district, 37 (northeast district), 36 (Northern Seberang Prai district), 13 (Central Seberang Prai) and five (Southern Seberang Prai).

Among the areas hit were the inner city of George Town, Jalan P. Ramlee, Air Itam, Farlim, Paya Terubong, Minden Heights, Tanjung Tokong, Batu Feringghi, Kampung Dodol, Balik Pulau, Butterworth, Kepala Batas, Tasek Gelugor, Seberang Jaya, Bukit Mertajam, and Sungai Acheh.

State flood mitigation exco Chow Kon Yeow said the amount of rain recorded so far was 85% of Penang’s average annual rainfall of 2500mm.

The amount of “extraordinary rainfall” in Penang also coincided with high tide of 2.7m at 1pm yesterday. 

He said parts of the rivers and drainage systems in residential areas and villages could not handle the deluge.

He added there were many utility facilities built across rivers and main drains that were low. Domestic, industrial and agricultural waste in rivers and drains also obstructed water flow during the incident.

“It was a very challenging situation where both natural and human engineered drainage systems failed to deal with the amount of rainfall. We have to admit that we were just unable to handle the rainfall.

“We were overwhelmed by the rain, floods, landslides and uprooted trees. But the situation is improving, as we can see from CCTV footage in various parts of the island.

“We believe it is the same for the mainland, where the situation will improve by this afternoon. We are still waiting for reports,” he told reporters in the Penang Island City Council’s (MBPP) CCTV room in Komtar.

Chow said the state through DID and local councils will continue flood mitigation projects at hotspots statewide with an allocation of RM300 million.

He said the projects are all scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of this year and will take up to three years to complete.

“In the meantime, we will conduct more awareness programmes to tell people not to throw rubbish into the rivers, and identify all rivers and drainage systems with bottleneck problems due to utility structures built without following councils’ guidelines.

“The structures will be removed at the cost of the respective companies,” he added.

Chow said at the state legislative assembly last week that Penang was hit by 119 flash floods from 2013 until last month.

Meanwhile, Penang Island City Council mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif said the council had despatched 200 personnel to deal with the damage caused by the floods and strong winds.

She said the council received reports of eight landslides on Jalan Tun Sardon (16 locations), Jalan Teluk Bahang, Jalan Paya Terubong, Jalan Puncak Mutiara, Lebuh Bukit Jambul, Lintang Bukit Jambul, Cangkat Minden Jalan 5, and Jalan Lintang Air Itam.

She also said a new road collapsed in the Taman Ratu housing project in Tanjung Bungah.

“The project has yet to receive its occupancy certificate. The architect has been told to take the appropriate action,” she said.

The council also received 75 reports of uprooted trees that blocked traffic, but its council workers also faced difficulties getting to the scenes immediately due to the floods.

“But we have managed to address 40 cases so far,” Maimunah said. – November 5, 2017.