Melaka keeps good drainage system to avoid floods

MELAKA, Dec 18 -- Residents in flood-prone areas here hopes that the state government and related agencies would continue to maintain good drainage system that has helped to prevent severe floods during the recent heavy downpour.

Vegetable farmer Mohd Daud Umar, 68, from Belimbing Dalam, Alor Gajah near here, was among the residents who feared that the continuous rainfall for four days from last Thursday would cause a severe flood.

“I was worried because each time the flood occurred, it would cost me thousands of ringgit because it ruined my vegetable. This time around, there is no flood and so there is no evacuation process, if not hundreds of people need to be evacuated due to the annual flood in Belimbing Dalam.

“There was an overflow of the drainage but the flash flood only occurred for a few hours before it receded. This shows that the street drainage system is excellent and well-maintained,” he told Bernama.

The latest flood occurrence in Melaka was in July this year when over 1,000 people were evacuated from around Alor Gajah such as Bukit Balai, Panchor and Belimbang Dalam, as well as Melaka Tengah such as Taman Merdeka, Batu Berendam and Krubong.

Last Sunday, 13 people from Bukit Balai were evacuated as a precautionary measure when the floodwater rose in their house but were allowed to return on the next day as the flood receded and the river water level returned to normal.

However, throughout this week, the Malaysian Meteorological Department forecast thunderstorms in the afternoon which had worried Lee Yi Ying, 41, a teacher from Krubong. She hoped that the drainage system could cope with the expected overflow.

She praised the preparation efforts by the related parties in the evacuation process of the flood victims, but she believed that a major part of the preparation efforts should be put into maintenance of the drainage system.

“In every flood occurrence, the agencies involved were well-prepared with boats, basic necessities and evacuation centres, but not in terms of drainage clean-ups, river widening or pump house maintenance which I think is more important to avoid the floods from occurring,” said the Art and Mathematics teacher. However, an employee of a cleaning company S.Muniandy, 52, expressed his frustration as there were still many irresponsible people who dumped their rubbish as they pleased which affected the efficiency of the drainage system, especially in urban areas such as Ayer Keroh and Bandaraya Melaka.

The Alor Gajah-native said their daily work routine among others is to suck out the trash trapped in the drain to avoid from clogging the drainage system which would cause flash floods.

“Each time the flash floods occurred, the people would accuse the government of not doing good drainage, but they are the one who throw their trash as they please. So when it rains, all the trash goes down the drain and clogged it.

“With this (mentality), even if the government spends millions to build drains of international standards, the floods will still occur if the people’s mindset did not change,” he said.

Husna Aina Abd Said, 22, a Computer Networking Engineering student from Sungai Putat said regular drainage system maintenance is necessary to ensure the system functions in an effective manner.

-- BERNAMA