LETTERS: If we look at how the recent disaster has inundated Masjid Jamek with water, the existing system, especially the drainage system, designed to deal with the flash floods issue, did not seem to be very helpful.
This indicates that the system should be enhanced to cope with flash floods in Kuala Lumpur successfully, or perhaps a good time for more unique and modern solutions to kick in as a solid preparedness strategy.
According to the DBKL Department of Irrigation and Drainage Director-General Datuk Nor Hisham Mohd Ghazali, among the reasons for the unexpected floods were the existing drainage networks that could not accommodate large volumes of surface runoff.
He also said that better enforcement is required to ensure that the river flows before and after development at the same capacity, stressing that over-development was also the leading cause of the recent flash flood.
The frequency of flash floods has begun to increase since year 2000 and continues to bother the city dwellers with massive and rapid urban growth to this day. It has also shrunk the open spaces, passageways of water, reduced vegetative cover and increased the built-up areas.
A similar case is also seen in Thailand as its urban development continues unabated in Bangkok, sinking the city of more than 10 million people down by 2cm a year, and the sea at the Gulf of Thailand is rising by 4mm a year – above the global average.
However, our neighbour has managed to reduce the impact of water overflow (flood) through the 11-acre Centenary Park at Chulalongkorn University in the centre of the city via vast underground water containers along with a large pond that can accommodate one million gallons of water.
Not to say that our country's efforts to mitigate the flood issue over the years were merely pointless, but it would be a great indication to our consciousness of how other countries have looked thoughtfully at the matter through their outstanding efforts to alleviate the issue.
Furthermore, we need to be more focused on dealing with the flash flood issue by improving our pragmatic approaches in the past few years to cope with the current urban development, along with considering constructive criticism from the experts as the way for improvisation.
The SMART tunnel that has functioned properly during previous flash floods is also not to be blamed as the level of efficiency and surveillance at construction sites needs to be increased to avoid the incidence of clogged drains due to sedimentation.
While in terms of technology, its primary use to solve the flash flood is mainly through flash floods forecasting that can currently be improved based on radar technology and modelling, data assimilation, and decision support systems.
The Netherlands, for example, has been using the flood mitigation technologies through crowd-sourced data while Spain, with its better weather forecast visualisation tools such as 3-D interactive displays and animations.
Undeniably, technology does entail colossal expenditure. If it is worthwhile to assist us effectively to alleviate the flash flood, then we should probably consider spending on it.
Our great effort to implement the technology through the early warning system in the mitigation of flash floods should also be further improved towards a better and more reliable warning system and technology.
At the same time, the rakyat should also play the significant role to our country's flash flood mitigation in minimising or preventing rubbish dumping into the drainage system.
Farhan Kamarulzaman
EMIR Research, Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times