KUALA LUMPUR: The assumption that only the east coast states will get affected by the northeast monsoon surge had caused the unusual floods in Selangor on Dec 18 as warnings of continuous heavy rains were ignored by certain parties involved in disaster management.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) had in fact issued six bad weather warnings involving continuous heavy rains, including in Selangor, prior to the disaster, which some parties failed to take heed.
“I should stress it here that the floods in Selangor were unexpected and the weaknesses (of the relevant agencies) identified at the state and district levels had caused me to interfere,” he said when tabling the papers on the flood disaster which occurred at the end of last year at the Special Meeting of Dewan Rakyat here today.
He said other states were also hit by floods at the end of last year, and some east coast states like Pahang suffered from the disaster on a much larger scale.
However, as the disaster management machinery in the state was properly in place and in a full state of preparedness, the disaster could be handled well. — Bernama
More to come