Selangor Journal
Villagers saving a stray cat while taking out valuables from their flooded homes at Kampung Sri Tanjung, Dengkil, in Selangor, on July 19, 2020. Water had risen and flooded their homes at around 1am on Sunday. — Picture by BERNAMA

Second phase of flood forecast and alert programme ready by 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9— The second phase of the Flood Forecast and Alert Programme (PRAB) will be completed in 2022 with 85 per cent data accuracy for the forecast issued.

Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS) National Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (PRABN) director Mohd Razali Husain said the second phase would be carried out at 38 major river basins nationwide.

“For JPS, we only use the real time for PRAB. This means the camera, rain data and river level are also real time. When using real time we can get a more accurate forecast.

“Based on the modeling of the second phase, it is 85 per cent accurate. The second phase which only started at the end of last year, can be accomplished in two more years,” he said during a briefing on the Flood Alert and Forecast Information Campaign (Karib) with the media here yesterday.

Mohd Razali said Karib was driven by innovative technology and a comprehensive system, namely PRAB which is able to give warnings as early as seven days to relevant agencies and two days to the affected communities before the floods.

He said, early warnings are important to enable thorough preparations to be made, especially in the face of the Covid-19 threat during the Northeast Monsoon which is expected this October.

“We want them to move before the floods, not when it is already flooded. Those affected are familiar with the experience of moving when it is already flooded,” he said.

Meanwhile, PRABN JPS senior principal assistant director Dr Salwa Ramly said a study conducted found that only 5.5 per cent of the population living in flooded areas knew about PRAB.

“The study was conducted in February this year for a month. We asked those who live in the area of three river basins (Sungai Kelantan, Sungai Terengganu and Sungai Pahang) who have experienced flood situations.

“That means a lot more work needs to be done to ensure the public knows about this programme. We will also launch the website by the end of October before the Northeast Monsoon for the public to get information in real time,” he said.

He said so far, there are 126 siren stations under the supervision of PRAB in the three main river basins (Sungai Kelantan, Sungai Pahang, Sungai Terengganu).

— Bernama

 

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