KUCHING folk could have woken up to a tidal shock on Saturday (Feb 27) as most parts of the city were flooded with traffic coming to a standstill.
But for a person like me who grew up and spent most of my life in flood-prone Sibu, it was but a child’s play.
I left my house at 7.45am, expecting to reach the Borneo Convention Centre, Kuching (BCCK) at 8.15am for the launching of the Borneo Post International Education Fair scheduled at 9am.
Though relocated to Kuching six years ago, I am still feel like a stranger in most parts of the burgeoning city, knowing only two ways to reach my destination that rain-soaked morning.
Vehicles were seen turning back at Jalan Batu Lintang and I was left with no choice but to wait out the jam on the second route – that I know of in the area – against the advice not to from a kind soul who was directing traffic out of the water-logged gridlock.
It was one and a half hours of what seemed like eternity with the traffic not moving an inch. When things started moving again, and pressed for time, I drove through the flooded road – at some sections, going against the traffic flow and leaving behind many drivers contemplating to or not to cross.
Déjà vu, I thought. Well, I have braved the swirling water on inundated roads – whether on foot or bicycle or in car – all my life in Sibu!
I reached BCCK at 9.45am. Thanks to Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development, who waited for me for half an hour to start the ceremony – with an entertainment programme as a prelude – on behalf of The Borneo Post, the organiser.
With all the frantic rush – the flood, the traffic jam, and being not altogether familiar with the Kuching landscape – and little time to catch my breath, I managed to make to the stage to deliver my address – still calm and collected, if I may say so myself!
It is fair to say not in their wildest dreams could many have imagined the city would be flooded. But the learned in the industry were actually expecting this to happen anytime though the extent of the deluge still shocked them.
A well-informed engineering technocrat friend texted me to say the flood was due to various reasons with some of the obvious linked to natural factors such as rainfall, size of rivers and relief of land geography.
He continued: “Some are man-made such as inadequate drainage system, blocked drains, deforestation or overall clearing of vegetation. Lastly, it has to be the indiscriminate development.”
There are many natural flood plains in Kuching – Sungei Maong, the Central Park, Batu Lintang area and Sungei Tabuan, to name a few.
In the past, when it poured, the Batu Lintang and Central Park areas formed the ‘detention basins’ to temporarily store the water before discharging to Sungei Sarawak and the sea.
However, when these areas were developed, the developers filled up the area higher than the adjacent lands with scant regard for its obvious impacts on the neighbourhood.
So when there is a substantial torrential downpour, we don’t have to guess where the excess water, previously trapped in undeveloped lowlands, will go to.
Some of the mega malls even reclaimed the river reserves of Sungei Tabuan and built over the reclaimed land, to adversely impact Tabuan Dayak, I believe.
My friend lamented there used to be a time when we could not touch river reserves. The lure of mega bucks from mega projects can seemingly do wonders!
He added that the Department of Irrigation and Drainage
(DID) has a manual and requirement for developers to ensure the water discharged from their sites should be no worse than before the development vis-a-vis the Urban Storm Water Management (MSMA) manual.
MSMA is a guideline manual for developers when opening up urban areas for both residential and commercial purposes, requiring the developers to make provision for water storage such as the creation of ponds or tanks to manage storm water in their developed areas.
My friend cited the State Library, saying it stands on a site which was previously a natural detention basin.
“When it was developed by filling up, a lake was excavated as the alternative detention reservoir to ensure that the land, being developed, would not aggravate flooding in the surrounding areas.”
My concerned friend doubted the Kuching Drainage Masterplan, done long ago, was still being followed, and in approving development plans, whether flooding concerns were a major consideration.
“If this is not considered, more and more flash floods in the city areas will occur. When we fill up natural low-lying detention basins without providing alternative storages, the water has nowhere to run but into houses and hospitals,” he added.
Yes, Sibu is situated in a low-lying area and flood-prone. We have seen much improvement over the years, obviously with many expert advice.
I remember the days when my late uncle Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew, and Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh (Minister of Local Government and Community Development), worked hard to address the issue.
It was a battle against nature.
So, do we still wonder why the capital city which reputedly has ‘dry’ roads, is subjected to floods while Sibu which has been grappling with serious flooding, is able make some good progress?
Yes, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Jaafar could say it was a rare occurrence for 300mm of rainfall to have been recorded on that fateful Saturday.
According to Housing and Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari, the city’s current drainage system could only cope with up to 180mm of rainfall.
It is heartening to note both Wan Junaidi and Abang Johari have concurred that implementation of development has not taken proper drainage seriously and that plans are not well-coordinated.
Until a City Development Masterplan is drawn by qualified consultants and endorsed by the State Planning Authority (SPA), we can expect to more flash floods in the city.
Of course, there must be people who are with integrity, honesty, trust, principles and commanding respect and are incorruptible in place. We put high hopes in the Chief Minister to lead a clean and good governance.
Vote for candidates who are clean, upright and uncorrupted with ability to deliver and work for the people! Pray that God will enlarge the territories of the more honourable ones!
Until then, I pray for God’s compassion and mercies and hold on to the promise that He weighs and measures, allotting the proportion of every tide and every shower.
“When He imparted weight to the wind and meted out the waters by measure, when He set a limit for rain and a course for the thunderbolt, then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. (Job 28:25-27)