PARLIAMENT The flood that hit Klang on May 15 was caused by clogged drains, Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Hamim Samuri said today.

"The water level of the Klang River was low on that day, thus the flood was not caused by the river overflowing.

"It was caused by the clogged drains that were unable to channel the water swiftly to the river," said Hamim.

Hamim was responding to an emergency motion brought by Charles Santiago (DAP-Klang) at the special chamber of Parliament.

This was the first emergency motion debated in the special chamber, which was set up during the current Parliament sitting.

It was also reported that some flooded areas were lower than the level of roads, he said.

Hamim said besides the high volume of rainfall recorded, the developments (of the drainage system) had failed to take into account (some) technical (aspects) that had resulted in the severe flooding.

"The construction of the drainage (system) needs to observe the guidelines of urban storm water management," he said.

La Nina phenomenon

Charles brought up the La Nina phenomenon to the attention of Parliament following the May 15 incident which saw two-thirds of Klang flooded.

He also said the RM1.5 million new retention pond at Bayu Perdana, built by the municipal council, was not functioning on that day.

He urged the government to determine if corruption had occurred in the implementation of the pond project.

He also called for an audit to be carried out by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage to identify any weaknesses.

In reply, Hamim said such an audit should be done by the Selangor state government.

When met later at the Parliament lobby, Charles said he agreed with Hamim as to the cause of the Klang flood.

Later, Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali blamed the federal government for not allowing the Malaysia Road Record Information System (Marris) to upgrade the sewage system.

“I raised the matter to National Finance Council which is chaired by prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. We proposed that the Marris allocation be used to upgrade the sewage system.

“The (Klang) sewage system has been there for many years and is now too small,” he told reporters in Parliament, adding that he proposed to upgrade the system through Marris, a federal road grant to the state.

Azmin also said the state government has allocated RM18 million to upgrade the Klang retention pond.