Two trees toppled in separate incidents in Seberang Perai on Saturday evening, crushing a taxi and a car while heavy rain flooded housing estates across Seberang Perai Tengah, FMT reported.
The Penang fire and rescue department said nobody was hurt in either incident. Its deputy director of operations, John Sagun Francis, said the first emergency call came at 6.01pm after a tree came down on a taxi at Desa Sutera Square, Jalan Sutera 3, in Perai. The tree also damaged part of the roof of a nearby shop.
The taxi driver, a man in his 50s, escaped injury. Firefighters from the Prai and Bandar Perda stations, according to Harian Metro, cut up the trunk and branches with workers from the Seberang Perai City Council, and handed the site back to the local authority once the operation ended at 7.57pm.
In the second incident, a tree fell on a car and on part of a house in Mengkuang Titi, Kubang Semang. A team from the Penanti fire station moved the tree. The car owner, aged 24, was unharmed, and the site was handed back to the homeowner.
Rain began at about 4.30pm. The Seberang Perai Tengah disaster management committee listed Seberang Jaya, Permatang Rawa, Tanah Liat, Mengkuang Titi and Jalan Baru as the areas hit. Several houses took in water and drainage problems were reported in Seberang Jaya, though the committee said the situation stayed under control.
District disaster management committees coordinate the response of agencies such as the fire and rescue department, the civil defence force and the local council during floods. Capt Mohd Fadhil Fahmi Zaini, the civil defence force officer for Central Seberang Perai, told The Star that a team was sent out to monitor the situation as the rain spread across the district. He said personnel were ready to help if evacuation became necessary.
He advised residents to tell the authorities immediately if water levels rose, so that action could be taken.
Both fallen trees came down within about two hours of the rain starting, in a district where new housing areas sit close to older roadside trees. Firefighters spent about two hours at the Perai site before declaring it safe.
Neither the disaster management committee nor the fire and rescue department said how many households were affected by Saturday’s flooding.
