Lee (second right) poses with others during the visit on Wednesday.
KUCHING (Jan 14): A total of 22 units of telemetry stations are functioning well in providing continuous real time data to the Kuching Barrage Operation Room, said Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
According to him, the information on rainfall and water level generated from these telemetry stations are used for decision making by the Kuching Barrage operator together with his ministry and Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB).
He said the information is required for the parties involved to regulate the discharge of excess water from the Sungai Sarawak catchment areas to the sea.
“SRB has also sent their teams to the kampongs (villages) where the telemetry stations are located to demonstrate and explain to the local people on the need to move to higher ground once the siren from the stations are activated due to the rising water level in the areas,” he said in a statement today.
The statement was issued following his visit to the Kuching Barrage Operation Room yesterday.
The minister received an update by the Kuching Barrage operator on the latest water level situation within the Sungai Sarawak catchment areas arising from the heavy rainfall that coincided with the king tide.
Lee said a 24-hour operation room at SRB headquarters linked to the Kuching Barrage Operation Room had been activated to closely monitor the water level situation.
With the unfavourable weather forecast from the Meteorological Department in these few days, he advised those living in the low-lying areas to be more vigilant.
He also called upon these individuals to constantly follow advice that would be issued by the authorities from time to time.
“The heavy and continuous rainfall resulted in huge volume of water into the Sungai Sarawak catchment areas which also coincided with the king tide and has caused some low-lying areas inundated with water since yesterday (Wednesday),” he said.