Malaysia's National Flood Warning System A Failure, With Accuracy Rate Of 5.6%

According to The Star, the National Flood Forecasting and Warning Programme Phase 1 (2015-2022) has produced "dismal performance," with forecast accuracy of only 5.6%.
In addition to its poor accuracy, the program was unable to send out announcements and warnings two days prior to the occurrence of floods,  according to the auditor-general’s report.
For the record, Putrajaya had allocated RM145 million for that phase between 2015 and 2022 in three river basins in Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang.

“Audit checks found only 32 of 83 flood warnings were issued two days earlier while 51 warnings were issued less than two days before floods occurred,” it said.
According to the report, the Irrigation and Drainage Department (DID) did not perform preventive maintenance on any of the 204 flood warning stations after the warranty period had expired.
“If malfunctioning equipment is not repaired, there is a risk of financial loss. It is recommended that maintenance be done according to plan to ensure that stations and equipment are functioning properly,” it added.
The report also found that the accuracy of flood forecasting was put at risk when data from 118 pieces of equipment were not received at the gateway for three consecutive months. 

Although the program helps the department forecast and warn about flooding, the audit discovered that the program's delivery performance was less than ideal when it came to issuing flood warnings.

In response, the department stated that a number of factors, such as dynamic weather patterns and "significant weather occurrences" that only permit floods to be detected in less than two days, were to blame for the delayed flood warnings, The Star wrote.

The department also made note of the fact that forecasts are released by the Philippine Public Storm Warning System 36 hours in advance of incidents.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) disclosed in February that the floods in 2022 caused RM622.4 million in losses for the nation, of which RM18.8 million was attributed to vehicle losses, Paul Tan reported.