RM160 Million Is Needed To Upgrade And Set Up New Early Flood Warning System.

RM160 million is needed to upgrade and set up new early flood warning system infrastructure.

According to a report by The Star, Deputy Environment and Water Minister, Datuk Mansor Othman has come out and said that a sum of RM160 million is needed to upgrade and set up new infrastructure for the early flood warning system.

Picture credit: Utusan

The funds will help upgrade 516 existing siren stations and 155 existing webcam stations with an allocation of RM1.13 million and RM6.2 million respectively. He also added that RM32.5 million would be spent on installing 361 new webcam stations.

"The Irrigation and Drainage Department (DID) have already identified sirens stations in flood-prone areas across the country that needed to be upgraded.

"A total of RM160 million is needed for efforts to upgrade the sirens and the early warning system to tackle the issue of floods," he told the Dewan Rakyat during a special emergency sitting conducted on March 9 to tackle the recurring flash floods that have hit the Klang Valley.

While Mansor believes that the Meteorological Department can give early warning for floods, there are weaknesses in predicting specific locations that could be hit.

"What happens is that MetMalaysia can give an early warning, but there is a shortfall in the accuracy of the exact locations where floods will occur."

Picture credit: The Vibes

DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) on the other hand, has appointed consultants to study and redesign monsoon drains and general drains to increase the capacity of the infrastructure to accommodate the amount of rainwater, thereby overcoming the problem of flash floods.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim said the appointed consultants have been instructed to complete the study within 12 months based on an average repeat period - Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS).

Shahidan also explained that the flash flood in Kuala Lumpur on March 7 was not due to the failure of the six JPS water retention ponds in the region, instead, the pools functioned with sufficient capacity to accommodate rainwater and operate according to standard operating procedures (SOP).

Picture credit: Malay Mail

The six water retention ponds are Kolam Batu (Batu); Nanyang Pool (Jinjang); Kolam Batu 4 ½ (Jalan Klang Lama); Kolam Delima (Kepong); Taman Wahyu Pool (Selayang); and Taman Desa Pond (Seputeh).

However, he said, the Boyan retention pond in Sungai Bunus, Titiwangsa, could not accommodate the unusual amount of rainwater exceeding the reservoir's capacity, and there was an overflow of water to the surrounding areas.