By Mustakim Ramli
SHAH ALAM, Dec 21 — The extraordinary rainfall in the past few days played a role in affecting the state government’s preparations, which have been in place since November, to face the possibility of flooding.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the situation was worsened when the high tide phenomenon also took place during this time.
“The projected rainfall was meant to span over the period of a month, but it all occurred within a day. What happened on December 16 was 300mm to 400mm of rainfall in 24 hours.
“The (weather) adjustments were done in November for a month’s worth of rainfall, but unfortunately this trend continued to rise, and we immediately deployed existing assets,” he said during a special press conference regarding the current floods situation in Selangor, at the State Secretariat Building earlier today.
On November 17, the state government via its Disaster Management Unit made a statement informing the public within the vicinity of risky locations to prepare for the possibility of floods.
The Selangor Meteorological Department at the time predicted between 200mm to 300mm of rainfall in December.
Amirudin added that all district officers were initially prepared in low-capacity, prior to the floods, after which they were raised to the maximum level on Saturday.
He said the state infrastructure is only meant to withstand between 60mm to 100mm of rainfall, which eventually forced the Menteri Besar to contact the prime minister for support.
“The sluice gates also had to be closed, since the overflow of sea water could flow onto land and possibly into Shah Alam and its surroundings, worsening the disaster,” Amirudin said.
He predicted the flood’s water levels at Bukit Changgang and Bandar Seri Ehsan in Kuala Langat will slowly subside over the next 48 hours.
On December 19, Environment and Water Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Zaini Ujang said the continuous heavy rain within a 24-hour period since Friday (December 19) was equivalent to the average rainfall distribution for the Klang Valley in a month.
He said such a phenomenon took place every 100 years, following the factor of monsoon runoff, and a low-pressure weather system that reached tropical curvature levels in the South China Sea.
