Are KL storm drains really cleared every day?

 

A second incidence of flash floods in KL in three months has left hundreds of vehicles submerged, vast sections of the highway closed and power cuts in certain parts of the city.

When challenged by Fong Kui Lun, the MP for Bukit Bintang, that DBKL did not clear the city’s drains on a regular basis, the Federal Territories (FT) minister, Shahidan Kassim, strongly denied his allegations.

He said that all 19 waste traps of KL city’s rivers were cleaned on a daily basis and added that a consultant had been appointed and been given one year to redesign the city’s drains. He said that this was part of the irrigation and drainage department’s long-term plan to resolve KL’s flash flood issues.

Floods are an annual occurrence, so if we are taken unawares, we need only blame ourselves for our lack of preparation. People talk in terms of climate change but many people tend to ignore the role played by overdevelopment, corruption, incompetent civil servants and our poor maintenance culture.

Many factors contribute to the devastation caused by the floodwaters but man’s activities have precipitated the damage.

Let’s start upriver. In our pursuit of profit, we destroy our environment when we log our jungles indiscriminately. The people who are supposed to monitor and enforce the timber quotas are sometimes the ones who are alleged to be in the pay of timber tycoons.

The canopy of trees in the jungle acts as a huge umbrella, during heavy rain. The leaves and roots of the trees absorb much of this moisture. The rotting vegetation on the jungle floor also absorbs some of the water run-offs.

In Malaysia, vast swathes of tropical jungle trees are cut and replaced with a monoculture, such as oil palm trees on hundreds of thousands of acres. The oil palm does not act like a sponge, as jungle trees would. There is no canopy, and the trees are spaced out widely. Rain falls directly onto the soil, and there is an excessive amount of water from the surface run-off. The rivers cannot cope.

The scourge of the cronies

Some civil servants have also alleged that they have rejected developments in unsuitable areas, only to find their bosses breathing down their necks.

The civil servants are professionals who in their jobs as town planners, engineers or architects have turned down development applications because it involves building on known flood plains or on hillsides,

What often follows is that cronies with powerful political friends will use politicians to apply pressure on the civil servants to approve the project. This is often a disaster waiting to happen. The effect of building on slopes, wet plains, or construction that involves the destruction of mangrove swamps may not be immediately felt, but can only be seen after heavy rain.

Do these irresponsible people, who urge uncontrolled development, realise that mangrove swamps act as a buffer against rising waters and high winds? Do people who denude the forest and destroy hill slopes realise that without roots to hold the soil together, the unrestrained flow of water down the hillsides causes mudslides which result in the destruction of life and vegetation?

Look at the developed areas in our major towns and cities. Certain parts are heavily built-up but developers forget to increase the size of drains thus preventing the rainwater from flowing to the rivers fast enough.

Shahidan may have invited the developer to redesign the drains, but flash floods are not a new occurrence and does not explain why, only now, is a consultant being appointed to redesign the drains. The consultation should have taken place ages ago, and not just last week.

Stop paving over your garden

Will Shahidan also encourage house-owners not to pave their front gardens? Paved gardens prevent rainwater from being absorbed into the soil.

The authorities are quick to blame the flooding on “climate change”, but they neglect their duty to clear the drains, and prevent blockages by clearing the vegetation which grows in and around the drains. They are equally lackadaisical about clearing branches, dead animals and rubbish from culverts and monsoon drains.

If the drains (which Shahidan claims are cleared daily) are not up to the job, why weren’t remedial measures thought of sooner?

How good are our flood warning systems? Our communities are affected and our farmers’ livelihoods are destroyed, when farmland is underwater. This makes our food security issues worse. In towns and cities, houses smell of mud and slime after the waters have receded.

Will we do more to respect the environment? Or are we resigned to being punished after heavy rain? Will governments be more proactive instead of waiting till things are beyond repair? - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.