JOHOR BARU, Aug 3 — Johor Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) representative Amira Aisya Abd Aziz urged the state government to initiate special provisions for the local councils to tackle flash floods in the city.
"As part of flood mitigation initiatives, the special provisions can help with irrigation and drainage maintenance.
"I also proposed that the state government form a special committee to deal with climate crisis and flood disasters,” the Puteri Wangsa assemblyman said in a statement this afternoon.
She was commenting on the massive floods in several parts of the city here after a heavy downpour yesterday afternoon.
Amira Aisya, who is also Muda deputy president, explained that the special committee should be established to study the best measures for the state government in dealing with the climate crisis.
"Experts in the field of the environment, scientific groups and panels with extensive experience in urban planning should be appointed to this committee.
"The state government needs to take yesterday’s incident seriously so that flash floods will not be something that occurs every two-to-three weeks here,” she said.
The first-term assemblyman pointed out that yesterday’s flash flood that affected the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) and parts of Johor Baru has occurred repeatedly this year.
She said yesterday’s flash flood happened just after an hour of heavy rain.
"This is very worrying as the flash flood situation does not only happen in the Johor Baru district but surrounding areas including Puteri Wangsa, Kempas and Pasir Gudang.
"These areas are also often hit by flash floods which have resulted in damage to property and disruption of residents' daily affairs,” said Amira Aisya.
Yesterday, Johor Opposition leader and Perling assemblyman Liew Chin Tong said that the public needs to take notice of the climate crisis, which is a serious issue at present.
"Efforts to mitigate floods and prevent the effects of climate change need immediate attention and action,” he said in a brief statement last night.
Heavy rains yesterday resulted in several main roads in the city being inundated with flood water.
About 500 vehicles were reportedly submerged in the flood water. However, there was no evacuation order or casualties reported as the floods fully subsided by 4pm.
