He told the Dewan Rakyat that there was an assumption that only states on the east coast of the peninsula would see floods due to the bad weather.

Ismail said that preparations to face the monsoon season were mostly focused on the east coast states while the “extraordinary floods” in Selangor were not anticipated by many.

“Following the extraordinary and unexpected floods, the frantic situation on the first day of flood management in Selangor had caused rescue teams to struggle in conducting operations due to the complexity of urban flooding,” he said.

“In fact, the flood management in Selangor did not show any clear changes on the second and third day (of the floods), causing dissatisfaction among victims.”

Ismail said he rushed to the National Disaster Control Centre (NDCC) on the night of Dec 18 for more information on the situation on the ground, where he then decided to activate an NDCC hotline for complaints and queries on the floods.

He also said he contacted the heads of the defence forces and police to mobilise personnel and assets for rescue operations.

“These floods exceeded the Selangor disaster department’s capability to respond. Selangor also rarely faces extraordinary floods like this,” he said.

Earlier, the House erupted into chaos after Ismail took a swipe at the Selangor government, with opposition MPs interjecting to protest against his remarks.

He also took a dig at opposition elected representatives, saying some of them were nowhere to be found during the crisis.

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