KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — The federal government will have to revise its national flood mitigation plans following unprecedented floods that hit Penang and killed seven people, a minister said today.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the heavy downpour in the state even hit locations thought to be safe.

"This means the government will have to relook at the meteorological data gathered from Penang and factor that into the new national flood mitigation framework, which was only drafted in 2014 following the floods that hit the East Coast states.

"Now we need to relook into the whole thing because of what happened in Penang,” Wan Junaidi told a press conference held after a briefing by the National Irrigation Department here.

From Saturday afternoon till early Sunday morning, Penang experienced continuous rainfall up to 250mm, 190mm more than the threshold for rain categorised as heavy.

This was likely the heaviest downpour to hit Penang, Wan Junaidi said, adding that climate change was the primary cause.

"It all ties up to climate change. When the earth is warmer, the more water gets absorbed.

"That also means more water will come down as rain,” the minister said.

Malaysia has expressed commitment to tackling climate change by ratifying the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change.

Putrajaya has allocated RM40 billion for the purpose, Wan Junaidi said today.

Climate change was also seen as the primary cause for the 2014 floods that ravaged Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and some parts of Johor. It was the worst natural disaster in the country to date.

Twenty-one people died in the floods that year with damage estimated to be more than RM1 billion.

Since then, Putrajaya has drafted a new national flood mitigation system with an allocation of up to RM4 billion for short—  to long-term projects aimed at reducing floods in monsoon-prone states.

But what happened in Penang meant the government needed to revise its planning, Wan Junaidi said.

"Now we have to relook at the entire rain data and restrategise”.