Uggah hands out packed food to a child at Dewan Sinaran Sungai Lumut temporary relief centre.
KUCHING (March 13): The Sarawak Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) has identified all critical rivers that require clearing works to help address flash floods in the state, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman said these rivers fell under the high-risk category, requiring clearing works to ensure smooth water flow.
According to him, the department has compiled the list and the state government will use this for further action.
“With the list, we can bid for funding from the federal government. When I was a federal minister taking care of environment, we had allocation for the clearing of rivers.
“If we have the funding, by August, we should be able to complete the clearing of some critical rivers. But that still depends on the funding that we can get,” he told reporters following a visit to flood victims at the Kampung Bedaun temporary relief centre (PPS) here yesterday.
On the unpromising weather of late, Uggah said the monsoon season in Sarawak was supposed to end last month.
However, he said that the weather pattern for this year seems to have changed and floods are still happening.
Uggah (right) meets flood victims staying at the Surau Darul Hana, Kampung Sungai Bedaun temporary relief centre.
“Hopefully after this week, the weather will be back to normal. For this Sungai Bedaun PPS, there are now 11 families comprising 60 victims. If the weather has improved, they can return to their respective homes.”
He appealed to those residing in low-lying areas to be always on alert given the rainy weather.
He said, as SDMC chairman, he had directed all agencies concerned including the District Disaster Management Committees and Divisional Disaster Management Committees to be prepared for all eventualities.
For the time being, Uggah said only Kuching and Simunjan seemed to have been affected by the bad weather.
“But we do not know. Maybe this is the impact of climate change, so we want all to be prepared for not just floods but also landslides and access roads being cut off, especially in the Northern areas where most of the logging roads face risk of being cut off.
“We shall all be on standby mode to make sure that those cut off road access can be restored as soon as possible,” he added.