Kelantan cannot wash its hands of annual flood problem

Never mind the oil royalty, federal and State govts must work together on this

COMMENT

By Johan James

Almost every year, Kelantan and other east coast states suffer floods from the heavy monsoon rain towards the end of the year, this time the worst since 2004. Who should take the blame? Central government? State government? Or is it from the wrongdoings of the locals in Kelantan?

As much as 255mm (10 inches) of rain fell in 24 hours between Dec 21-22, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department. On Dec 23, the department issued a high level warning of heavy rain in parts of peninsular Malaysia.

Adding to that, the high tide phenomenon of the new moon also has been identified as one of the major contributors of the heavy flooding, where the close proximity of the moon to Earth results in higher tides which hampers the dissipation of floods.

The following have been identified as the main factors that cause heavy flooding:

* The close proximity of the moon at perigee,
* The new moon-phase in parallel with the sun,
* The occurrence of perigean spring tide,
* The strong winds from the northeast, and
* Heavy downpours in the remote areas of the east coast states.

The southern provinces of Thailand, a few islands of Indonesia, and five provinces in Sri Lanka were also badly affected.

Although monsoon flooding is not unusual in south-east Asia, the central and state government’s role in solving this ever-continuing mishap cannot be discounted at all. It is a core responsibility of the state government which has been helmed by the opposition for over 20 years.

The state government has no choice but to take serious measures to overcome the state’s flood woes, and look into the geographical factors, drainage system and the uncontrolled deforestation of the state, in order to overcome the flood woes once and for all.

Political differences between the central and state government have to be scrapped: they should work as a team to identify all the contributory factors. The blame game must stop immediately. The contest over the scant oil royalty should not become an excuse for the state government’s failure to solve the flood problem.

*Johan James is an FMT reader*