Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Sibu Hit Hard By Floods

Sibuians were very much caught by surprise by the influx of floods last night. The widespread flooding affected most of the low-lying areas, with water level going up to 4 feet in the worst- hit spots.

The torrential down-pour in the past two-three weeks in Sibu and upper Rajang River gave rise to the hit. Flooding was anticipated, but the scale of it was quite beyond our expectation!

On my way to work this morning, I was shocked by the near-paralised traffic in the town centre. At the junction of Jalan Wong Nai Siong and Jalan Kg. Nyabor, I got caught in the jam for close to 40 minutes, moving my car at a snail's pace until a traffic cop came to ease the mess.
Tonight's flooding is anticipated to be worse, making it nightmarish for residents at the flood-prone areas.
Although flooding is a natural phenomenon, certain infrastructural defects can be rectified to improve the overall situation.

Our meteorological service has much room for improvement in giving warning of flood attacks. In the past few days, there was completely no signal given to Sibuians on the impending hit. This put the whole town in a state of total unpreparedness for the flooding. As a result, a lot of unnecessary hardship was sustained.

A proper warning system has to be put in place for the benefits of Sibuians.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny how we elect all these Barisan Nasional politicians year in and year out and the flood problem remains. It is a reminder how Barisan Nasional fails us and yet we are still sleeping and unaware how much this government is failing us. We are still voting for a failing political party. This time we must demand RM 500 per vote ang pow.

Anonymous said...

RM1000 is more like it make em pay. I went to Sibu last night and was stuck in town for the night as I was not able to go back to Sarikei unless I use the treacherous Durin way. If the pollies have the guts to do something about the flood problems instead of staging superficial beauty contests and "pestas" Sibuians would have a good flood control system by now. Pity those in low lying areas especially my friend in Bukit Assek and my car:'-( otherwise all Sibuians are welcome to move to Sarikei:-)

Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...

Hey ! wow so serious in Sibu ?
By the way, you're a hotelier ! you falls under corporate & TA ?
Couple of ur hotel photos remind me of my past !* Giggle*
I was a Sales coordinator for Travel Agent sector :)
and I studied Economics in aus like u TOO! hey man! we lived " the same! * Giggle *

Tony Hii said...

Anonymous, our politicians need to be a lot more down-to-earth, seriously. They have to give to rakyat their listening ears, hands to feel the ordinary folks' plight, caring hearts to radiate warmth and walking legs to the filthy water-covered areas to soak together with the poor.

In short, they have to see for themselves and put it into concrete actions. Political shows by either front are not going to help Sibuians. Voters, watch out for scum!

Tony Hii said...

Denise, thank you for feeling for Sibuians. We are now a bit disorderly in our daily life. But the situation is manageable.

I hope you have fully recovered from the attacks of the fearsome office politics. Stand up straight, walk tall and venture into an even greener pasture. I wish you good luck!

Wow! You did Economics also in your tertiary studies. Good girl, share with me, if you have, your views on economic issues.

Anonymous said...

El Nino, global warming,...all blames went to the nature.

Politicians are below God

Tony Hii said...

But poor resource planning does contribute in part to the present flooding condition in Sibu.

Anonymous said...

Obviously some people are too young to know/remember that in the 50's and 60's we had floods at least once a year but we lived in houses on stilts then...and we did not have BN or whatever then! I would agree with traveller regarding the global warming thingy...and what has anybody done to combat the problem, by the way? Before we start blaming other people, perhaps we should look at ourselves first. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!"

Anonymous said...

hi, 500 ringgit is definitely not enough. BN must pay out insurance if they fail to deliver....we voters need to be covered and protected!!

now we are waiting for the unscrupulous business people to sell their water soaked goods to us...who will say anything about them? Here again, we are not protected...so some people may be eating biscuits with worms and moulds....value added? just watch out for yourself.....