LETTER | Why is it that land originally with flora and fauna and which never used to get flooded, becomes flash-flood prone after "development" by humans?
This is a common phenomenon all over the country. Heavy rains in Penang over the past few days caused such floods in many parts of the island, all in so-called "developed" areas. It happens every time there are heavy downpours.
Similarly, in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and other "developed" areas, it is common to see floods within just 20 or so minutes of heavy downpours.
The first to get blamed is nature - the extraordinarily heavy rainfall! Next maybe clogged drains. Is that all?
What about dereliction of duty at the planning approval stage?
Before any building plans are approved, whether for just one building or for hundreds of them covering many hectares, the plans are scrutinised by about a dozen departments to ensure they meet the requirements of the laws they administer.
There are laws regarding drainage and at least two of the departments/agencies should have responsibility to see to the requirements of drainage, not just within the development area, but also the area surrounding it. They are part of the local government that gives the final approval and the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) which is supposed to be an expert in drainage matters.
Does the law only require these agencies to ensure that drainage within the development area is adequate and not bother about the run-off from the development area that will be connected to drains outside the development area?
This is the root of the flash floods problem in developed areas! Run-off from new roofed and paved areas (the volume depends on the area that produces the run-off, which could be huge), is channelled into pre-existing drains that cannot handle the additional volume of water. The result is overflowing of the old drains and flooding of the surrounding areas.
It does not take rocket scientists to see this. I was very surprised therefore that after last month's flash floods in Batu Maung (this has been happening for years after every heavy downpour) the Batu Maung assemblyperson made a statement asking the relevant department to investigate the cause of the flash floods.
He is also an exco member and should have raised it with the exco members for works and local government a long time ago.
The DID needs to state why it gives approvals to plans for new developments when the existing drains outside the development area are not capable of carrying the additional water from the new development area.
The local authorities need to state why final approval is given by them when the DID has not confirmed that the drains outside the development area are capable of carrying the additional volumes of water without the existing drains overflowing and causing flash-floods.
If approvals are given without ensuring compliance with all the drainage laws that should ensure existing drains do not overflow due to additional volumes of water from the new development area and cause flooding in the surrounding or downstream areas, is that not dereliction of duty?
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
