(Penang, Friday): The people of Penang must make clear to the Penang State Government that "Enough is Enough", that they do not want Penang to become the Venice of the East and they do not want any more talk but real action fromt the government.
Yesterday was another watery disaster for Georgetown, where after over an hour of downpour from 4.30 p.m., Penang was again transformed into the Venice of the East.
Most parts of Geoergetown were congested with traffic with flash floods affecting the vicinity of Pengkalan Weld, Komtar, City Stadium, Jalan York, Jalan Masjid Negeri, Penang Hospital, Jalan Burmah, Jalan Perak, Jalan Datuk Keramat, Jalan P. Ramlee, Lebuh Carnavon, Jalan Campbell, Lebuh Kimberley, Jelutong, Jalan Terjun and other major parts of the city.
There were massive traffic jams paralysing Georgetown as it happened after office and school hours.
The 250 residents at the 60-odd double-storey terrace houses in Lorong Air Terjun were stranded when their homes were submerged in more than 1.2 m of flood water.
This was not the first time the area was flooded, though the waist-deep water level was by far the worst.
The residents at Lorong Air Terjun as well as the people of Penang as a whole must be quite tired of empty assurances about immediate flood mitigation plans and I call on the Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Tan Tsu Koon to personally head a task force on immediate flash-flood mitigation in Georgetown to send out a clear message that the State Government has no intention to allow the Penang island to stumble into becoming the Venice of the East.
(7/8/98)