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INTRODUCTION

Malaysia is situated in Southeast Asia and consists of Peninsular Malaysia from the Asia
continents and Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo Island. Located near the equator with higher
concentration of solar energy where the Suns rays strike almost full on all year round and
surrounded by the sea, the air is moist and is generally covered with clouds all year round.
Malaysia is highly influence by the dry and wet monsoons and also the period in between
known as the inter-monsoon. The wet monsoon brings heavy, widespread continuous rains while
the inter monsoon period usually produce high intensities convectional rains. The combination of
the extremes temperature in equatorial regions with the pressure gradients in these areas and the
maritime exposure produces extreme weather Introduction two conditions and the frequent
occurrence of floods. There are 189 river systems in the country (89 in Peninsular Malaysia; 78
in Sabah and 22 in Sarawak) flowing directly to the sea of which 85 are prone to frequent
flooding. (DID Manual, Vol.1, 2009)
The position of the land and the sea creates the significant pressure gradient resulted in
copious rainfall arise mainly from the maritime exposure. The characteristic features of C -the
climate of Malaysia are uniform temperature typically ranging from 75F - 86F (23 C) and the
annual precipitation for Peninsular Malaysia is 2500-mm (98-in) while30 Borneo Island has
approximately 3000-mm (118-in) of rain annually. The open water evaporation is ranging from
1600mm-1800mm (63-71 in). The relative humidity defined by the ratio of actual vapor pressure
over saturated vapor pressure is exceptionally high about 80% on annual average.

HISTORY OF FLOODING IN MALAYSIA

Floods in Malaysia have been classified in two categories by the Malaysian Drainage and
Irrigation Department, i.e. flash flood and monsoon floods (DID, 2000a). Based on the
hydrological perspectives, the clear difference between these two disasters is the period taken by
the river flow to recede to the normal level. Flash floods take only some hours to return to the
normal water level, while monsoon flood can last for a month (Noorazuan, 2006).
Local weather changes are among the natural cause that triggered flash flood, while non-natural
causes such as inefficient urban drainage system and increase of the number of building in the
urban areas, and it is the causes of most of the flash floods event in the Klang Valley Peninsular
(Kuala Lumpur) (DID 2000a).
Review of flood history in some areas in Malaysia, Terengganu receive heavy rainfall during
the North east monsoon that occurs between October and March and leads to severe floods
almost every year at all over the state. Terengganu is located at the east coast of Peninsular
Malaysia that has never missed a flooding event especially during the months of
November and December during the north east monsoon period. The floods that occur at
Dungun area of Terengganu state was due to the combination of physical factors such as
elevation and also its close proximity to the sea apart from heavy rainfall received during
the monsoon period. Hence, a flood that affects the Terengganu area and other location along
the eastern coast is termed as a coastal flooding (Muhd Barzani et al., 2007).
Historically, Muar River Basin has experienced frequent flooding over the years, there
had been series of heavy rainfall events that had resulted in flooding within the Muar
River Basin catchments. The recorded floods are shown from December 1926 to January
1927, February toApril 1967, November 1967 to January 1968, December 1970 to
January 1971 and November 1979 respectively. From 1980 to 2010, a total of 29 flood events
have been recorded (Ching et al., 2013).
Another enormous flood in the Malaysian flood disaster history, striking in four
states in the Peninsular Malaysia like: Melaka, Johor, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. The
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flood incident started when the Northeast monsoon brought a heavy rain through series of
continues storms, causing destructive flood in Kota Tinggi, Johor (MNRE 2007a). The flood
strike as a result of two waves, the December 2006 which last for 13 days from 19 31
December, and January 2007 lasted for 7 days from 12 17 January.
The series of floods were unusual as the 2006 average rainfall return period was 50
years while the 2007 had more than 100 years of return period (Shafie 2007, Badrul
Hisham et al., 2010). The flood was destructive with the highest water level recorded
reached 2.75m,is the highest level ever recorded since 1950and it resulted in more than
100,000 people to be evacuated and the death of 18 people recorded (MNRE
2007a).Table1,below shows the flood history in Malaysia, including the lost and the fatality rate.

Figure 1: Flood in Kuala Lumpur in 2000

Figure 2: Flood in Kuala Lumpur in 2002

Figure 3 and 4: Flood in Dataran Merdeka in 1975.


PROBLEM STATEMENT

A flood problem simply means that you are getting too much water where you dont want
it. Because water does not respect property lines or city limits, in most cases the solutions to your
flood problem will involve not just the people who suffered damage most recently, but rather the
whole neighborhood, the entire community, and even the rest of the watershed. Its hard to find a
solution to a flood problem if youre using a single-minded approach. For example the area
which is improved technologically like Kuala Lumpur. The busy lifestyles becomes even burden
in these flooding times.
Flooding is a natural occurrence but flood problems are the result of human development.
Floods may be acts of God, but flood damage results from human actions. Flood problems result
from:
1) Inappropriate development in the floodplain (e.g., buildings too low, too close to the
channel, or blocking flood flows),
2) Development in the watershed that increases flood flows and creates a larger floodplain,
or
3) A combination of these two.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this case study is to determine the causes and solutions to the flood problems
mainly in Kuala Lumpur area. There are objectives as below:
1) To identify the root cause of the flood in Kuala Lumpur area. Kuala Lumpur is highly

recognized worldwide as capital district of Malaysia. There are some causes which
become main cause for the flood around there.
2) To identify the problems occured which leads to the flood. Problems like improper

construction works, damaged drainage system and poor management may leads to floods.
3) To find solution or method to solve the flood problems. Proper methods to solve the

problems should be implement.

IMPORTANCE OF THE CASE STUDY

Importance of this case study is to acknowledge the current and previous situation in our
country regarding the flood cases in generally. Malaysia is a country very prone to flood risks,
mostly by nature of its physical (e.g. topography and drainage) as well as its human geography
(e.g. settlement and land use patterns). The combination of natural and human factors has
produced different types of floods, viz. monsoon, flash and tidal (Chan, 1998b). Malaysians are
historically a riverine people, as early settlements grew on the banks of the major rivers in the
peninsular. Coupled with natural factors such as heavy monsoon rainfall, intense convection rain
storms, poor drainage and other local factors, floods have become a common feature in the lives
of a significant number of Malaysians.
Monsoon and flash floods are the most severe climate-related natural disasters in
Malaysia, with a flood prone area of about 29,000 km2 affecting more than 4.82 million people
(22% of the population) and inflicting annual damage of USD 298.29 million (Asian Disaster
Reduction Centre (2005) Mitigation and Management of Flood Disasters in Malaysia. With
annual heavy monsoon rains averaging more than 3000mm and such a large flood-prone area,
flood risk is indeed high, most notably in riverine areas and coastal flat lands. With such a large
population living in flood-prone areas, flood exposure is high as well. Because of such high

flood risks and exposure, the Malaysian Government is forced to spend a huge amount of its
annual budget to mitigate against floods.
Under Malaysias five yearly Plans for development, the allocations for design and
construction of flood mitigation projects account for
USD 4.564 (1st Malaysia Plan 1966-1970),
USD 9.78 million (2nd Malaysian Plan 1971-1975),
USD 32.6million (3rd Malaysia Plan 1976- 1980),
USD 65.2 million (4th Malaysia Plan 1981-1985),
USD 97.8 million (5th Malaysia Plan 1986-1990),
USD 228.2 million (6th Malaysia Plan 1991-1995),
USD306.44 million (7th Malaysia Plan 1996-2000),
USD 3.97 billion (8th Malaysia Plan 2001-2005),
USD1.25 billion (9th Malaysia Plan 2006-2010) and
USD 1.17 billion (10th Malaysia Plan 2011-2015).

According to Hj Ahmad Hussaini, the Director General of the Drainage and Irrigation
Department of the government of Malaysia, there are two major water-related problems affecting
this country. These are excess water (floods) and water shortage (droughts). Both these problems
have disrupted the quality of life and economic growth in the country and can result in severe
damage and loss of property, and occasionally loss of human lives, as can be seen in the
December 2006 and January 2007 floods in Johor (Hussaini, 2007).
Floods occur annually in Malaysia, causing damage to property and loss of life. It is
useful to distinguish normal from major flood events. Normal floods are seasonal
monsoon floods (November to March) whereby the waters do not normally exceed the stilt
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height of traditional Malay houses. Thus, people living in stilt houses in the rural areas are well
adapted to normal floods. It is the major floods, which are unusual or extreme events that
render people helpless. Major floods also have their origins in the seasonal monsoon rains but
statistically occur once every few years. These floods are extensive, severe and unpredictable and
result in significant loss of life, damage to crops, livestock, property, and public infrastructure
(Winstedt, 1927).
In a major flood, people's coping mechanisms are totally ineffective and they are forced
to rely on government relief for recovery. During major floods, a flood depth of 3 meters is not
uncommon, and hundreds of thousands of people are often evacuated. Other classifications such
as flash flood, tidal flood, river flood and monsoon flood may be considered as normal
or major depending on the severity (Chan, 1995). Historically, Malaysia experienced major
floods in the years 1926, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998,
2005, 2006, 2007 and most recently in 2014 and January 2015. This latter flood occurred in
kelantan. The January 1971 flood was a massive disaster affecting nearly the whole of Peninsular
Malaysia, with Kuala Lumpur the most badly hit. This flood resulted in a loss of more than USD
65.2 million and 61 deaths.
Since then floodplains in the country have undergone a rapid transformation into large
urban cities with dense population and mega structures, thereby increasing flood damage
potentials. As a comparison, during the 2006-2007 flood disasters in Johor, the estimated total
cost was in excess of USD 0.49 billion. These two events are 516 ranked as the most costly flood
events in Malaysian history. Recent urbanization amplifies the cost of damage in infrastructures,
bridges, roads, agriculture and private commercial and residential properties. At the peak of the
most recent Johor flood, around 110,000 people were evacuated to relief centers, and 18 people
died. (Hussaini, 2007).

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