Deputy Education Minister II P Kamalanathan said emergency services had been directed to help candidates travel to exam centres and the state Education Department had been placed on full alert.
The SPM exam begins tomorrow with the Bahasa Malaysia Paper 1, scheduled at 8am, followed by the Visual Arts-Art Theory Paper 1 at 11am and Bahasa Malaysia Paper 2 at 2pm.
The exam is scheduled to go on until Dec 4.
“We are still assessing the situation but, ideally, we hope to carry out the examination on time and according to the schedule.
“All teachers and invigilators have been told to prepare themselves to aid all students who are sitting for the exam. Our priority is for the safety of students; everything else is secondary.
“I would also like the parents and teachers to follow official instructions from the authorities,” Kamalanathan said when contacted today.
He also asked candidates to check his Facebook page from time to time for updates related to the exam.
An intense thunderstorm hit Penang late yesterday evening which lasted until the wee hours of the morning, causing the entire state to be under water.
Authorities say the rainfall was equivalent to one-and-half month’s rainfall in the state, causing most parts of the state to be under water.
At the time of writing, three have been confirmed dead while nearly 2,000 displaced and evacuated to relief centres.