Penang govt approves RM665k for flood mitigation

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has approved RM665,000 worth of flood mitigation measures with immediate effect following flashfloods and landslides which hit the state today.
State Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow (pix) said the seven projects were immediate requests by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).
He said the measures are to take about two weeks to a month to complete and will be awarded by direct contract due to the emergency nature of the work.
These projects include deepening Sungai Pinang and desilting the Sungai Pinang river mouth.
The measures also include the deepening of Sungai Dondang retention ponds and deepening and repairing its river banks.
Sungai Air Itam will be deepened and its banks repaired as will Sungai Jelutong while damaged pumps in the Northeast district will be repaired.
"These will be approve immediately," Chow said in a press conference after launching a waste separation programme for Bayan Lepas today.
Chow said the floods were caused by heavy rain which lasted from about 2.30am until 7.45am, resulting in 21 areas being hit by flash floods affecting 150 residences and some 350 persons.
These areas include Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Lumba Kuda, Jalan Datuk Keramat and Jalan Masjid while rivers which broke their banks include Sungai Pinang, Sungai Jelutong, Sungai Air Itam and Sungai Air Terjun.
He said the water level in affected areas was between 30cm to 90cm and noted the sea level was high between those
times, measuring some 1.9m to 2.1m.
"The four hours of non-stop rain causes the upstream to receive a very heavy amount of rainwater to be discharged to the river, and the river travels very fast causing low-lying areas to be flooded," he said.
On the flood mitigation project which was stopped in Jalan Lumba Kuda, Chow said the decision was made some time ago as it was felt the Sungai Pinang Flood Mitigation Phase Three project could address the issue.
He nonetheless said the DID has been asked to come up with measures to alleviate flooding with work slated to begin there in 2017 pending the commence of the Sungai Pinang project.
On the landslide in Jalan Ujung Batu, Chow said there were no development projects in the area and described the
incident as a "natural slope failure".