THE recent flash floods that shut down parts of Kuala Lumpur and even halted morning parliamentary proceedings were not classified as a “disaster” but deemed an “incident”, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
“I called for a meeting with the Selangor state disaster committee to get a briefing on real-time operations carried out by the various agencies,” the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) said.
“The situation that day was not deemed a disaster but was categorised as an incident,” she said in reply to a question raised by Onn Abu Bakar (PH-Batu Pahat) in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
On Oct 15, more than two hours of heavy rain caused flash floods in several areas of the capital and triggered a landslide in Taman Melawati.
According to the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia), the flash floods were caused by the movement of a squall line that brought in thunderstorms and heavy rain.
Dr Zaliha told the House that the heavy rain began at about 8.15am and lasted till 10.45am.
“The downpour lasted for about two hours and 15 minutes. Officers from the Irrigation and Drainage Department and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) acted swiftly to be on the ground to help divert and disperse excess water.
“It is not accurate of YB Batu Pahat to say that they were slow to respond.
“The emergency response time was according to the standard operating procedure and the situation was brought back to normal within two hours,” she added.
Dr Zaliha also said that several flood mitigation projects were being carried out to prepare Malaysia for assuming the Asean chair next year and Visit Malaysia Year 2026.
She said 14 flood mitigation projects had started this year and four more were planned for 2025.
Of the 14 projects, two had been completed, four were in progress while the rest were still at the tender stage, she added.
