GEORGE TOWN, Nov 5 — In the wake of the massive destruction left by the heavy storm last night, non-governmental organisations once again called on the Penang government to stop all "short-sighted and patchy” urban planning that they blamed as the main cause of the floods.

Tanjung Bungah Residents Association (TBRA) vice-chairman Agnes James issued a statement urging the state government to relook its urban and suburban development projects to see how it can improve the state’s ability to resist and absorb floods.

"Flood resilience should be a matter of intense and consistent focus by the government in light of the worsening flood conditions in Penang,” she said.

She pointed out that the massive floods yesterday happened "despite the best efforts of the state” and millions spent in flood mitigation projects over the years.

"Penangites continue to suffer repeated flooding primarily in low lying areas and are now facing new areas of flooding following developments on and near hill slopes,” she said.

She told the state to develop a holistic flood prevention and mitigation initiative instead of leaving this in the hands of developers.

"Penangites have seen how poor urban planning has resulted in the recent fatal landslide and today’s sinkhole that tore up a road in front a new luxury development in Tanjung Bungah.

"Both were cut into the hills which are known to be watershed areas,” she claimed.

She stressed that both projects faced major incidents despite having been developed, approved and monitored by qualified experts.

Agnes said it is clear there has been a failure in hasty and risky development as these are no longer isolated incidents.

"We hope the state can employ qualified experts to help them draw up a checklist for all dangers surrounding high-rise construction as well as develop a comprehensive flood prevention plan,” she said.

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) also blamed the massive floods on the removal of hill forests, silting of the rivers and overdevelopment in Penang where green areas were replaced with concrete.

"This has resulted in the heavy rainfall not being able to be drained because the rivers and drainage system are clogged up by silt that cannot clear the rain water,” CAP and SAM president SM Mohamed Idris said in a statement today.

He told the state government to recognise that this is an "environmental and social crisis” that needs to be resolved immediately.

He said the state should overhaul its urban planning by placing the interest of the people and the environment above the interest of developers.

He demanded that the state allocate more funds to rehabilitate and repair all damaged hill slopes while resuscitating rivers to ensure better flow.

"It must allocate many more staff to check hill slopes and land adjacent to hills and to take preventive measures and it must pressure and require private developers to take extra preventive measures,” he said, adding that developers must be prosecuted and made to pay the penalties if they failed to do so.

For longer term measures, Mohamed Idris suggests that the state government stop all work in hills slopes and hill land regardless of whether the slopes are below or above 250 feet.

"Stop all works that are adjacent to hill slopes or hill land which carry risks of erosion and landslides,” he said.

He also called for all approved projects on hill land or near hill slopes, regardless of whether it is above 250 feet or below, to be put on hold and be subjected to review.

"Extra measures should be imposed to ensure they are safe and there must be strengthened enforcement to monitor these projects,” he said.

He also called on the state to stop approval for all new projects on hill lands, hill slopes and lands adjacent to hill slopes regardless of whether it is above or below 250 feet.

"There should be no development on river reserves,” he stressed.

He said the federal government must also play a major role to allocate emergency funds for Penang to tackle problems of risky hill slopes, landslides and floods.

"The federal government should immediately strengthen its own activities in its jurisdiction such as the imposition of the environmental impact assessment on projects and to undertake the responsibilities on the approval process seriously  as well as to monitor the environmental impact of projects as they are being developed,” he said.

The devastating floods last night and today left five dead and thousands in all five districts displaced and affected by property and vehicle damages.