Sibu Flood 2010

 Ops! Sibu is in water again!!

[Flood in front of shop houses near Jalan Kampung Nyabor]

Due to unpredicted change of climate and continuous raining especially at upstream area such as Kapit and Kanowit plus the high tide, Sibu is once again became the victim of flash flood. 

[Temporary "bridge" was built by staffs of a supermart to ease people crossing]

Everybody in Sibu realized that the main cause of the flood is the shallowed Rejang River which needs to clean up urgently, but this fact is fully denied by the politicians in power. Despite, they chose their own solution by spending millions of tax payers money to build some sort of water pump in order to pump the water back to the river which appears to be illogical and impractical! The luxury construction still in progress.

 [Traffic jam on the "bridge", people just can't wait to cross...]

Nothing much I can comment about. Perhaps the coming state election is the best path to give a lesson to those in power what people's voice is all about!

[The newly renovated Sibu Heritage Center is one of the venue surrounded by flood]

I leave you with the photos I took this morning on the flood in Sibu, just in case you are wondering how the town looks like when it is in the water!

[Flood view at Jalan Central]

[This is dangerous, somebody needs to do something on it]

[Shop lots near Jalan Central were badly affected by the flood]

[Hand-in-hand, we across water!]

[Which way should I go?]

[Road and Rejang River is on the same level]

[A view at Jalan Kho Peng Long which is just beside the Rejang River]

[Life still need to go on despite the inconvenient resulted from the flood ]

[Utilize the water from mother nature]

Mana Itu Sangat SMART Punya Tunnel?

Malaysia was so proud of its world-class infrastructure called SMART tunnel. The more than RM 2 billions worth construction even once being reported in Discovery Channel which made Malaysians' nose high to the sky!

"SMART is an acronym for Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel, a project under the Federal Government initiated to alleviate the flooding problem in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur."

Well, I am not the one said so.. but it is stated in SMART official website.

However, I had being understand that after 2 or 3 hours of heavy downpour in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, this is what happened! Just see the photos below. Nothing much to comment... just wish to ask our dear Uncle Sam "Mana pergi itu sangat SMART punya tunnel? Itu orang tidak sempat buka itu lubang kasih itu air keluar kah?".

Want to know how SMART works? You can refer to the links below:

1. SMART in details

2. SMART Wiki

3. SMART project

Something Happened On Rejang River

I think the photos below explained or at least give you some idea why I mentioned before that one of the major reason of recent Sibu flood was caused by shallower riverbank.

[Speed boats trapped on the precipitated sand at low tide]

Can you see how thick the sand precipitated at the riverbank? When low tide, this is what happened to the small boats. I guess these boats can only move away when the high tide come. Poor boats! Honestly, I never see such situation before where the boats were trapped on the shore.

[Another trapped boat]

Initially I thought this is normal. I thought whenever there is low tide, the boats will surely trapped. Until I read a local newspaper today reporting that the water level at Rejang river abnormally decreased and the wharfs were seriously dry out, then I just realized this is some abnormal phenomenon. Nobody can explain why as this situation never happened before. Perhaps this is another sign of human irresponsible activities had causing harm to the environment!

[Today's newspaper reported about the abnormal water level decreased in Rejang river]

As a conclusion, shallower Rejang river is a fact that nobody can deny. This is the main reason of frequent flooding in Sibu. Photos above only show a very minor part of precipitated sand in the river. In the mean while, abnormal low tide is something we may also need to pay attention to.

Flood Compensation Form

I had been given this form by my colleague today. It's so called flood compensation form given by trusted source I guess.

Last week when our DPM Datuk Seri Najib visited Kuching and announced that flood victims in Sarawak will be compensated accordingly, I was doubt, yeah.. very doubt in fact how to measure "flood victims". I guess this form provided some clues to that.

There are 3 major sections to fill in this form and I have some question about them.

Section A - Household's head information. Ok, this won't be a problem. Just fill in name, IC number and telephone number.

Section B - Flooded area information. This seems to be a bit problem. Among information you need to fill in:

1. Nama Kampung (village name). How about if the victim is not staying at kampung area? Or whoever prepared this form trying to imply that only kampung area will get flooded?
2. Alamat (Address). This should be house address.
3. Jumlah Isi Rumah (Total house members). I am doubt if this information is necessary. Is that mean if one has more people staying in a same house the compensate money will be higher?
4. Paras Air (Water Level). What unit should I use to measure the water level? Reaching knee? Reaching neck? Reaching car park? or 1 feet, 2 feet etc? How you know if I simply write a measurement?

Section C - Certification from Penghulu/Ketua Kampung/Kapitan. This is a big problem. I guess not many people knew who is the Penghulu/Ketua Kampung/Kapitan at their area. So where you gonna find these people to certify for you?

The form also specified that the applicants should attach a photo of flood scene at their own area. Abang... how about those from poorer family who already face difficulties in daily life and you expect them to have camera to shot the flood scene at their place? Or if somebody forgot to take a shot on the flood situation at their place, they will be declined as flood victim even half of their house was soaked in the water during flood?

Actually I am not against the idea of compensation but I am unsatisficed with lack of proper instruction on how to make the claim by local authorities. Even the claim form itself is not taken from official channel! I am sure still a lot of real flood victims out there not even know the existance of this compensation! That's really bad!

Then, after fill in the form, where to hand in it? When and how compensation money will be made? Big question marks on head!

Whoever responsible for this should at least well inform the public by publishing it through local newspapers with clear instruction how to fill the form, where to hand in and when and how the compensation will be made and etc.

Rumors said families "affected" by flood will be compensate RM300 and if the water reached into the house, the families will be paid RM1k. Not sure about this because we never being informed!

Flood Again N Again

If I ask, what is the recent hottest table topic or kopitiam topic on town? Some may not hesitate to say "BN took over Perak administration"! Yeah, maybe it is right, but not for Sibu people. The hottest table topic for Sibu people recently is "Sibu flood again"!

Nothing worried Sibu people more than flooding! Just like this afternoon around 4pm, a colleague of mine received a call from somebody telling him that water overflown again and some places already flooded. He then told us about it.

First listened, we were doubt about it as morning's flood just reduced drastically in the noon time. Nevertheless, we still took an observation from 5th floor of our office. We noticed that some roadside really covered with water already.

Then we took a look at the motorcycle parking place just below the office building... gosh! water raising!! Our motorbike was in the water! My colleague and I quickly went down to move our motorcycle to a higher place. No doubt, my shoes got wet but not a serious one thanks to my colleague Sparkish who lent me a hand!

Then, I discovered that the water kept overflown from the drain with shocking speed. Within 10 minutes or so, the road was covered with water. When I went back to the office to report about this situation, the whole office became a bit panic. Flooding already became a sharing nightmare to all of us.

Our manager was kind enough to let us go few minutes earlier than normal off time to avoid from trapped in traffic jam especially those driving car.

Before I went back, I stopped at few frequently flooded area in town to take a look at the situation over there. In Jalan Khoo Peng Long, I found this interesting scene. A father brought his son to play with overflown Rejang river water in the middle of the road!

Of course a typical kid from town was more than happy playing with such a huge pool of water! The photo proved how happy he was!

However the dad did take care of the son. He always keep an eye on him and when there was vehicle coming, he would bring his son to the roadside.

Haven't I tell you that Sibu Bomba building will never escape from flooding? Yeah! It's proved again! Whenever flooding, the fire engines have to be moved out and parked at the roadside. How pity!

Some fire brigades soaking in the water within the Bomba building compound chit-chatting about something. I think they already used to this kind of situation. Although flooded, they still have to standby for any emergency.

Jalan Central - one of the major road to town center also a frequent flooded area. As it is a major road, thus once flooding, it will cause serious traffic jam.

In the previous post, did I told you that I am not the only one taking flooding photo ? Ya! This time I caught a pretty girl busy snapping flooding photo at Jalan Central!

Some shops at Jalan Central were flooded and I guess they will have to close the shop earlier.

Flood! Shared nightmare for Sibu people!!

Flood On 6th Day of CNY

Oh NO! Sibu flooded again and this time is on the 6th day of Chinese New Year! In fact, there were floods from the 1st day of CNY till today, but today one is the "highlight"!

Major roads were quite heavily flooded and caused serious traffic jam especially at Brooke Drive and Kampung Nyabor area. Luckily today is Saturday and some companies are off this day, otherwise the jam will be even worse!

[Flood causing serious traffic jam @ Jalan Kampung Nyabor]

[Flood scene @ Jalan Kampung Nyabor]

[Some shops were flooded and couldn't do business]

As I told in the previous post titled "Oh No! Flood!", the major cause of frequent flooding in Sibu nowadays is the shallowed riverbed of Rejang river resulted from illegal logging upstream. The yellowish water covered the roads are from overflowed Rejang river. This is a fact!

[A view of Rejang river - main cause of frequent flooding in Sibu]

Yet, local politicians refused to believe the fact and don't want to open tender for riverbed clearing. Everytime when serious flood occur, they will tell the press that they already acquired millions worth of allocation and efforts will be taken to solve this problems.

[My former primary school will never escape from flood because of its geographical location]

However, not much improvement we can see until today. Yet, Sibu people need to bear the consequences of the shallowing riverbed of Rejang river. Can you imagine one day you drive out from your house, then when you are at a one-way road and you notice that the road is flooded but you can't make a u-turn back? Will you just stop your car or continue your journey? If you continue, you will be having risks such as missing car plate number or the worst case, your car engine died at the center of the flooded road!

[Flood in front of Sarawak House]

I guess those politicians never worry about this, because they are sitting in big car and staying in big house with the house compound properly cemented few inches above the road level. But do they ever think of those poorer facing the water overflowed into the house and caused furniture damage? Who gonna bear their loses? Come on!!!

[Flood at Foochow Lane - over the knee]

Flooding in Sibu is a very serious issue that all Sibu people are facing today. I know sometimes we cannot against mother nature, but I am sure some prevention can be carried out in short term to lower the frequency of flooding in Sibu such as proper drainage management and Rejang riverbed clearing thus give back the peaceful day to the people of Sibu!

Here are some random flooding photos to share:

[Daesim Mart staffs were busy building temporary "bridge" for pedestrian.]

[Bomba building never escaped from flood]

[Random flood scene]

[Random flood scene near Sarawak House]

[Random flood scene @ Jalan Khoo Peng Long]

[Can you differentiate where is land and where is river?]

[Taking photo in the river?]

[Walking on the river?]

[Riding motorcycle in the flood]

[I am not the only person in Sibu taking flooding photo! ;p]

[Did you notice anything strange about the wharf?]

[Eating kampua between the flood - ever try before?]

[No! The shop is flooded! Somebody help!]

[Temporary bridge near Daesim Mart]