GEORGE TOWN: The flawed drainage and irrigation system which triggered Penang's flash floods dominated the lively debate at the state legislative assembly sitting here today.
Leading the pack was Air Itam assemblyman Wong Hon Wai, who questioned the state government for not conducting a post-mortem examination to analyse the floods in depth.
"The causes behind the floods must be scrutinised.
"The data must be compiled to come out with new ways to curb the chronic floods as the current approach is clearly not working," he said before the debate session came to a close.
Wong said the severe floods on Oct 29 on Deepavali day led to boats being deployed to rescue stranded residents.
He expressed his disgust that flash floods at Lebuhraya Thean Teik and Jalan Thean Teik, Bandar Air Itam had occurred for the first time in his constituency in recent years.
Wong also hit out at the unsystematic drainage system which triggered the flash floods in the vicinity of his area.
His comments won the support of Barisan Nasional backbencher, Pulau Betong assemblyman Muhammad Farid Saad, who urged the state government to re-look into the possibility of standardising the drainage system, especially in suburban areas.
"In Balik Pulau, the height of new developments is way higher than the ground level so this has caused the rainwater to flow down from higher ground," Farid said.
Farid said approval for development projects must be made more stringent to ensure that developers abide by the deeper and wider drainage requirements.
