PASIR MAS: Kelantan is hoping that the federal government will speed up their study to modify the spillway structure on the embankment of the Sungai Golok Integrated River Basin Development Project (PLSB) to address the stagnant floodwater woes.
Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Nassuruddin Daud said this is to prevent floods in the state, particularly in Rantau Panjang, from becoming worse.
Describing the flood situation in Kelantan now being worse than in 2014, he believed that the stagnant water was the cause for this serious flood.
"Floods in Kelantan continue to worsen with more than 15,000 victims recorded this morning for this third wave.
"The state government has received many complaints from the affected victims, urging us to solve the issue.
"We (the state government) realise that the PLSB project is not completed yet but the Federal government can find other solutions to enable stagnant floodwaters to flow smoothly," he said.
The Meranti assemblyman told this to reporters after visiting flood victims at SK Sri Kiambang relief centre here today.
Nassarudin said this round of floods, which he described bigger than the 2014's 'yellow flood', forced victims to be evacuated three times within a two month period.
"This stagnant water problem has been faced by flood victims almost every year and the setting of the embankment of the project resulted in the water rising too high.
"The latest flood is very extraordinary. It had submerged many houses like in Kampung Serongga, more than 200 houses were affected," he added.
He then said the federal government needed to solve the problem soon for the safety of the flood victims.
It was reported on Dec 21 that the government is studying the feasibility of modifying the spillway structure on the embankment of the Sungai Golok Integrated River Basin Development Project (PLSB) to address the stagnant flood water woes in the nearby areas following the implementation of the flood mitigation project.
Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said that the stagnant flood water woes are mainly caused by the project and the high amount of rainfall towards the end of the year.
"We understand the grievances of the residents there. We need to review the situation because, after the project is completed, we need to modify the existing spillway structure," he said.
He said this in response to requests from residents around the project area, who have been affected by stagnant flood water for almost a month.