This follows a spate of flash floods that has inundated several main districts in the state.
State Housing, Local Government, Water Supply, Water Resources and Energy Committee chairman Badrol Hisham Hashim said this was to enable every local council to be prepared when facing the disaster while providing prompt short term solutions.
“A comprehensive allocation from the federal government may take quite a long time, as such we want every local authority to be prepared in this matter … for example in Kuala Muda we expect the construction of a RM200,000 bund to be completed at the end of the year,” he said.
He said this after a briefing on flash floods in Kampung Darat, Bukit Pinang by the Kota Setar District Office and the Drainage and Irrigation Department (JPS), before visiting the village.
Continuous rain for several days recently resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of residents in the Kuala Muda, Baling, Bandar Baharu and Pendang districts when nearby rivers burst their banks.
Prior to this, the Kedah Meteorological Department said the state would experience high rainfall from September through November due to the shifting monsoons that would start in October.
Meanwhile, the state government has promptly approved RM65,000 to JPS to deepen drains in Kampung Darat, Bukit Pinang, Mukim Hutan Kampung near here which often experienced flash floods.
He said the new drainage system would enable water to flow away quickly each time it rained, as flash floods occurred there about once every month.
“The main problem in the area is drainage … it was previously a padi field which was turned into a housing area,” he said.
The project, he said would solve the problem for more than 400 residents in the village, who had been facing the problem of flash floods for the past 10 years.