EXPEDITE WORK ON COLLAPSED RETENTION POND EMBANKMENT, URGE TAMAN SRI ALAM RESIDENTS

SUNGAI BULOH, April 23 (Bernama) -- Residents of Taman Sri Alam in Saujana Putra, here, are calling on the authorities to expedite repairs involving a retention pond embankment which collapsed for the third time early this morning.

Muhamad Akmal Abdul Ghani, 39, said repair work on the embankment, which breached for the second time on Dec 29, has been halted since February after the installation of sheet piles was completed.

He said residents were notified that the repair work had been postponed pending further assessment from the relevant agencies and parties.

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On the incident this morning, Muhamad Akmal said he realised his house, situated 10 metres from the pond embankment, had begun to flood around 6 am.

"At that time, I noticed that water had entered the front area of the house, rising to about one foot (0.3 metres) in the living room. When I looked outside, I saw that part of the embankment had collapsed, causing the water to rush out rapidly," he said when he was met at his home today.

Meanwhile, Surain Husain, 33, said residents had repeatedly asked authorities to complete the embankment repair works urgently.

"I hope the embankment will be properly repaired and constructed higher, as the retention pond holds quite a lot of water, particularly during heavy rains like last night.

"It began raining around 3 am while we were fast asleep. Suddenly, around 6 am, a neighbour knocked on our door to inform us that water had entered (their home). I went outside and saw that the entire compound was already flooded," she said.

The Selangor Fire and Rescue Department said the retention pond embankment had breached again early this morning following heavy rainfall, affecting 35 houses.

This is the third time the embankment collapsed, with the first in 2014, followed by last year's incident, which affected 200 houses in the neighbourhood.

-- BERNAMA