Flood-prone / free

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Flood- Prone / Free                                                 31/12/11

Sibu, Sarawak before the monsoon drains could discharge excess rainwater properly, before the water pumps were installed at various places in Sibu and before the construction of Watergates was flood- prone.  Before 2011, Sibu was one of the worst flood prone areas in Malaysia .  Every Sibu BN political thugs attributed the low-lying situation for the cause of floods.   They also blamed the inclement weather conditions for the excessive rainwater and thus the prevalent flooding conditions. 

This year even Jalan Hua Kiew and Melian Lane which were considered the most low-lying areas with the poorest drainage are spared of floods to date.  Yes, the drainage has been improved and the roads have been layered up too.  In the past, Jalan Hua Kiew and Melian Lane were always included in the counts of floods. 

 Sibu which is still situated in the low-lying areas despite heavy rains and fast flow of water from upstream and the swelling Rejang River is spared of floods this time after 16 -18 years being so flood-prone.  We were harassed by small, medium and large floods many times a year.  Sometimes even many times in a month.  Before 2011, everywhere in Sibu would be flooded at different depth with this amount of rain.  But this year, 2011, with the improvement of the drainage system in the Sibu proper, the layering up of the roads, with the installation of water pumps and the construction of the Watergates, we Sibu people can safely declare Sibu to be flood-free area for many years to come.

Well, when I saw Julau, high-lying area which is at the upper reaches and n kilometers away from Sibu flooded heavily.  I just felt sorry for them and at the same time I hoped floods would waken up these people who always gave full pledge to the BN government, who always engaged in the business of vote buying and selling in the elections.  They deserved the disaster for letting go of their rights for proper drainage and other amenities for some cash.  They ignorantly let their leaders abuse them.

When I saw Macham which is about 40-50 km away from Sibu also flooded heavily.  I condemned the people there too for being so docile and let the BN political thugs to abuse them again and again. 

The water colour that I noticed was all like Teh-tarik (due to soil erosion) and the water was, for sure, from the overflowing Rejang River.   I wonder whether they know whom to blame and curse for the disaster.  I wonder whether they know Taib Mahmud and his cronies are the robbers of our rainforest at the upper reaches.  They contracted out hundreds and thousands of hectares of land for different activities for lots and lots of cash. 

There are a lot of indiscriminate logging activities  legally allowed by these demons.  I believe there is a heavy rain-off of topsoil when the land is stripped bare and when the water catchment areas are limited to prevent the rush of rainwater downstream.  This in turn cause siltation of the river and thus impede the proper flow of water.  As a result, the water burst the banks and flooded the areas in the vicinity.  Thus Julau was heavily flooded, Sarikei was heavily flooded and Macham was not spared, either.

Everybody should look at Sibu for answers now to solve the woes of floods.  When Sibu, a low-lying area is spared of floods, why can’t you?