Posted on January 6, 2012, Friday
DRAINAGE FAILURE: The flash floods rendered Jalan Batu Kawah impassable to light vehicles and caused a massive hour-long traffic jam.
KUCHING: Poor drainage caused a few houses at Jalan Burung Lilin in Batu Kawah to be flooded up to a depth of one metre following incessant overnight rain yesterday. The residents said the flash floods could have been avoided had the local council acted quickly on their complaints.
“But there was no follow-up action,” they claimed.
According to the residents, flooding is a common occurence in their area during the rainy season or after a heavy downpour and this has caused them to suffer losses. Met at the scene, one of the residents who only wanted to be known as Ng, said the flash floods were caused by the poorly maintained drainage system which got blocked during the heavy downpour. He noted although the local council had sent people to monitor the situation of the residents affected by the floods, no further action was taken after that.
Ng said the flash floods yesterday rendered Jalan Batu Kawah impassable to light vehicles and caused a massive traffic jam for about one hour. The residents had to break the road divider to drain the flood water and ease the congestion. As a result, the water started to recede, making the road passable again.
The overnight heavy downpour caused the water level to rise sharply around 5am and as of noon yesterday, there was no sign that the floods had subsided. “The water rose very fast. Although we had experienced flash floods many times before, this was the most serious we had ever faced,” Ng said.
The flash floods also caused the Kuching District Police Client’s Day at Batu Kawah Police Station yesterday to be called off.
Kuching District police chief ACP Mun Kock Keong said flooding in and around Batu Kawah made it impossible to hold the function. “We didn’t expect the heavy downpour to cause flash floods today.
The Batu Kawah Police Station OCS (officer-in-charge) is coordinating flood evacuations in the affected areas,” he added.
Meanwhile, residents in Jalan Desa Wira, Kampung Sinar Budi Baru, Kampung Sinar Budi Lama and Taman Desa Ria were evacuated by the Civil Defence to nearby centres in three rescue boats while Bomba, equipped with two rescue boats, were still monitoring the situation in Kampung Rantau Panjang.
A Civil Defence spokesperson said the situation in Batu Kawah had improved around 4pm and they no longer needed to use their rescue boats.
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