Local councils must discuss flash flood issue

ALOR STAR: Following incidents of flash floods inundating several main districts in the state currently, the state government has directed the Alor Star Mayor and every local council president to discuss the issue in local council meetings.
State Housing, Local Government, Water Supply, Water Resources and Energy Committee chairman Datuk Badrol Hisham Hashim said this was to enable every local council to be prepared in facing the disaster and at the same time provide prompt short term solutions.
"A comprehensive allocation from the federal government may take quite a long time, as such we want every local authority to be prepared in this matter ... for example in Kuala Muda we expect the construction of a RM200,000 bund to be completed at the end of the year," he said.
He said this after a briefing on flash flood in Kampung Darat, Bukit Pinang by the Kota Star District Office and the Drainage and Irrigation Department (JPS), before visiting the village.
Continuous rain since several days ago resulted in hundreds of residents in the Kuala Muda, Baling, Bandar Baru and Pendang districts being evacuated when the nearby rivers overflowed their banks.
The Kedah Meteorological Department prior to this informed that the state would experience high rainfall from this month until November due to the shifting monsoons from October.
Meanwhile, the state government had promptly approved RM65,000 to JPS to deepen drains in Kampung Darat, Bukit Pinang, Mukim Hutan Kampung near here which often experienced flash floods.
He said the allocation was to enable water to flow away quickly each time it rained, seeing the areas often had flash floods about once a month.
"The main problem in the area is drainage ... it was a padi field in the past which was turned into a housing area," he said.
The project, he said would solve the problem of more than 400 residents in the village who had been facing the problem for the past 10 years. — Bernama