PENANG’S post-flood clean-up is almost done, but the state is still combating fake viral messages that another storm is going to strike again.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said it was already proven that there would be no second storm, but the state is now concerned that the rumours would negatively impact tourism and investment.

Fake alerts of storms have been circulating online after 80% of Penang was affected by floods, strong winds and landslides following record rainfall on November 4 and 5.

“Penang was almost 100% recovered, except for Penang Hill,” he said, referring to the still closed funicular train service and jeep track.

“The industrial zones in Penang are doing fine. There were no floods in Batu Kawan. Bayan Lepas and Bukit Minyak escaped the worst, they were not so badly hit.

“Only the older industrial areas like Mak Mandin and Prai Free Industrial Zone 1 were badly affected,” Lim told reporters in George Town this afternoon.

State secretary Farizan Darus advised the public not to believe social media messages about the weather that were unverified.

He said people should refer to the Meteorological Department’s website, mobile app myCuaca, Facebook page malaysiamet, and Twitter account @malaysianmet.

“The Met Department had already denied the viral message on November 9, which claimed a big storm was heading towards Penang in two days.

“But the trouble is that message, which claimed to have based the forecast on Nasa technology, is still making its rounds online,” he said.

The message went viral earlier this month after claiming that Nasa had traced the storm and said it would hit Penang in two days, unless the winds moved towards Vietnam.

The message advised people to spread the warning to get people to stay indoors and to pray for the safety of people in Penang.

Meanwhile, Lim said China has offered to share weather information with Penang.

“We will also see if we can get weather forecasts from countries like the US,” he said.

The state government announced earlier this week that it was studying whether it could source more reliable weather forecasts from overseas.

The state had been criticising the local Met Department for not sending Penang a warning ahead of the storm earlier this month to enable the state to prepare for the disaster.

“There is low confidence in the department. Its red alert notice for continuous heavy rain on November 4 was only issued at 9.30pm after it had rained since morning. It sent two red alerts last week but no rains came.”

He said the disaster could not be prevented but if the state and the relevant authorities can respond quickly, the damages could be reduced.

Lim said forms for the state government’s RM700 one-off flood relief aid payment for affected households and businesses will be available some time after November 20.

Meanwhile, Farizan said 95% of flood-hit areas on mainland Penang have been cleaned up.

Only villages in Tasek Gelugor have yet to be cleared as the floodwaters there were the last to recede, he said.

All temporary rubbish dump sites that were set up to facilitate the clean-up process would be closed by today.

The mainland was the worst hit by the flash floods, namely northern Seberang Prai that received excess water from Kedah, which also suffered heavy rain. – November 16, 2017.