In a media conference on Sunday, Malaysia’s Environment and Water Ministry (KASA) secretary-general Dr Zaini Ujang said that the torrential downpour which began on Friday and lasted more than 24 hours, was equivalent to the average rainfall for a month and is a “once in a hundred years” weather event.
“The annual rainfall in Kuala Lumpur is 2,400mm and this means yesterday’s rainfall has exceeded the average rainfall for a month, it is something beyond our expectations and only occurs once every hundred years,” he said.
He also stressed that the direct cause of the event was monsoon flow factors and a low pressure weather system that reached the level of a tropical depression that formed in the South China Sea.
He added that the phenomenon was initially detected by Malaysia’s Meteorological Department on Dec 12. On Saturday, the weather system entered Pahang and hit the rest of the peninsula.
As of Monday evening, at least 10 people have been reportedly killed.
GOVERNMENT URGED TO IMPROVE DISASTER PLANNING, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Meteorologist Dr Azizan Abu Samah of Universiti Malaya told CNA that the cause of the floods in Malaysia was the interaction between the low pressure weather system, the seasonal northeast monsoon and typhoon Rai which has ravaged the Philippines.
“The three factors led to massive rainfall to initially hit the east coast, before moving inland to other areas of Peninsular Malaysia on Saturday,” Dr Azizan added.
He urged the government to improve its early warning systems so that major flood events in the future can be better handled.
He noted that the authorities could have predicted the flood event from happening and should have done more.
For instance, on Nov 17, the Selangor State Secretariat issued a warning notice that the state would face high rainfall in November and December, and urged relevant state agencies to prepare for this.
“We need to improve our warning systems. You can’t stop the weather but we have enough information to make good predictions, and with a good warning system, we can have a good response to such incidents,” said Dr Azizan.
“Disaster happens when you don’t plan for it,” he added.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was quoted as saying by Malaysian media that the unexpected downpour in Selangor had caught federal and state authorities off guard. He also pledged to quickly resolve outstanding issues in food and aid delivery to those who were stranded.
In terms of mitigating the effects of such major flood events due to climate change, Assoc Prof Haliza of Universiti Putra Malaysia stressed that Malaysia cannot do it alone.
“Mitigating the effect of climate change is a global effort but Malaysia must step up its sustainable development efforts,” she said.
Source: CNA
