CHERAS, May 14 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi sought today to forestall public criticism against the government following the latest flash floods in the national capital.
He admitted that the flooding should not have happened, but asked everyone to work with him to resolve the problem instead of playing the blame game.
“I will ask those who are pointing fingers to sit down together with me. What’s best is to resolve this problem for the short term and the long term.
“This flash floods problem should not happen in Kuala Lumpur because we have a good system and infrastructure. Maybe there are some problems with the flow of excessive rainfall,” he said during a press conference after launching the Home Ministry’s Family Day here.
Zahid, who also chairs the National Disaster Management committee, stressed the various ministries involved must get together and discuss ways to prevent flash floods.
“And I think I will put aside differences of portfolios of whichever ministries or agencies, what's important are the victims and the Rakyat in general. Their problems must be resolved,” he said.
Parts of Kuala Lumpur were submerged in murky water after torrential downpour resulted in severe flash floods at Jalan Semantan, Jalan Bangsar, Jalan Pudu and Jalan Pantai Baru last Thursday.
Business owners affected called the floods the worse in the last 30 years and images were circulating online showing Universiti Malaya students’ cars completely submerged in the water.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said yesterday that the flash floods happened as the drainage system was not capable of accommodating rainfall intensity of over 80mm per hour.
Thursday’s rainfall was recorded to be between 120mm and 140mm per hour for two straight hours.
