Penang FMM chairman Ooi Eng Hock said the losses were due to a drop in the workforce, delayed logistics and damage to properties.
“The timing of the floods was especially unfortunate because most factories are fighting to meet targets as the year draws to an end.
“The morale of factory workers affected by floods is also low, which affects productivity.
“And it does not help when there is a shortage of staff. With the flooding, more will be absent from work.
“We estimate at least RM200 million to RM300 million to have been lost in the floods.
“Some factories have lost millions because workers skipped a day of work,” he told FMT.
Penang FMM represents 400 companies and manufacturers in the state.
Ooi said the worst hit were the factories in mainland Seberang Perai in Mak Mandin, Perai, Juru, Bukit Tengah and Bukit Minyak industrial areas.
North Seberang Perai and Central Seberang Perai have been identified by authorities as areas with the worst flooding.
Ooi said on the island, many factories at the Free Industrial Zone in Bayan Lepas were also experiencing a shortage of workers as a result of the floods.
Saturday’s floods claimed seven lives and displaced more than 3,500 people.
A large-scale effort to transfer victims to relief centres are in place, while the Meteorological Department (Met Dept) has said more heavy rain is expected to lash the northern states the rest of the week.
Met Dept must give early warning
Ooi said it was time for the federal government to spend a little more on weather forecasting equipment so that the Met Dept could predict bad weather much earlier.
He said many of FMM’s members had said that in the United States, warnings on typhoons were given two weeks in advance.
Ooi said the three-day warning by the Met Dept was not good enough as more lead time to evacuate and prepare for a disaster was needed.
He said the present yellow, amber and red alerts were also confusing.
Ooi suggested a meeting between FMM and the Met Dept to come up with alerts which could be easily understood by the public and also industries.
“There must be a system which is easy to understand and it must be placed prominently on the department’s website.
“Currently, it is not obvious, difficult to understand and is issued late.
“A permanent channel must be created for all weather-related alerts, so the public would be well informed.
“Also, we would like to meet with the Met Dept officials and perhaps discuss a way to disseminate weather alerts to factories,” he said.
Yesterday, Ooi had said people could have been evacuated in time if the Met Dept’s warning had been issued earlier.
Met Dept director-general Alui Bahari, however, said all state agencies were informed on Nov 1 of impending severe weather, which was about four days before the floods occurred. He said a yellow to red alert was issued.
The Met Dept issues heavy monsoon rain alerts in the form of three coloured categories: yellow, orange and red.
Yellow means no immediate threat and heavy rain is expected to occur within one to three days.
Orange gives warning of more than a day’s rain, with occasionally moderate rain (0.5mm/hour to 4mm/hour) and expected to be continuous for more than one day.
Red indicates bad weather, with moderate rain changes to a downpour, with accumulated rainfall expected to reach 100mm/day. This includes rainfall that is expected to be continuous for a day or more, or widespread rain with radar detecting intensity of rainfall measuring more than 20mm/hour.
Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi also urged the Met Dept to give warnings seven days in advance so that disaster relief workers could prepare earlier.
He said under the Met Dept’s current policy, they had to alert states three days in advance of bad weather.
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