COMMENT | Years of flood history and we haven't learned a thing?

COMMENT | What is it that sticks to your mind the most on the recent (and still ongoing) flood crisis? I bet that many people would say two things - that this is one of the worst floods to hit Malaysia in recent history, and how ordinary Malaysians came out in full force to help each other, surpassing even what the government and authorities are doing.

I won’t deny that these are quite prominent issues. When Environment and Water Ministry secretary-general Zaini Ujang was quoted as saying that Selangor and Kuala Lumpur received more rainfall in one day which was equivalent to one month of rainfall, it was definitely an indicator of how bad it was.

We all saw it with our own eyes and the floods directly affected so many of us. My wife, children and I live in the greater Shah Alam area, however, we were lucky to have been on a short holiday outside of the state. We were overwhelmed with messages from our neighbours about the worsening situation at home.

But we were still lucky that our houses were not affected by the floodwaters aside from the Internet being down for a few days. Of course, the surrounding areas saw the water levels rising and access in and out of our residential area was blocked for around 24 hours because highways were extremely flooded.

My elderly parents who live in the same area were stranded in Shah Alam city when they went out for a late lunch. They wanted to head home around 6pm but were stuck at a petrol station till 3am. We were worried because my mother has...