KUCHING: The state Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) is on full alert and is ready to mobilise its men to any area hit by floods.
Its director Nor Hisham Mohammad Kadar said his office was monitoring more than 500 flood prone areas across the state.
“We have assigned 1,014 personnel to be on standby during this rainy period, which is expected to drag on until February next year,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Despite a rather `stable rain’ forecast for early next year, Bomba expects to see a climax of the rainy season next month, to be followed by several torrential episodes until the end of February.
“Unlike in the peninsula, where the rainy season comes in November and December, the rainy season in Sarawak begins early each year.”
Besides firemen, he said, flood rescue operations would also involve personnel from the department’s 35 voluntary bodies.
“We cannot ascertain the exact number of volunteers, but we expect a one-to-one ratio for each Bomba personnel.”
In terms of vehicles, he said it included light and heavy vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles, rescue boats, and two units of Bomba helicopters, which are on standby in Miri.
Meanwhile, the Sarawak Meteorological Office, when contacted, said chances were high that a few areas in the state would be hit by floods, especially during the King Tide period next month.
A Meteorological officer said in addition to torrential rainfall, flood disasters are also influenced by the area’s topography, population, and waste management.
In a related development, Malaysian First Infantry Division Deputy Commander Brigadier-General Dato Pahlawan Redzuan Baharuddin, in a recent interview at the Kuching International Airport, also said every army camp in the state had been directed to be on its toes to aid in flood rescue missions.