Analysts say forest losses may be contributing to the worsening floods, with many of Malaysia’s hardest-hit states also showing the highest deforestation rates, according to Global Forest Watch data.
On the street in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur where Chong’s family have lived for almost a century residents have coped with regular flooding for decades — but nothing prepared them for the devastation caused by rising waters late last year.
Disasters in 2021 from extreme weather and natural phenomena such as earthquakes resulted in a global economic loss of $270 billion, according to a March report by the Swiss Re Institute.Like many Southeast Asian nations, Malaysia suffers regular flooding during its annual monsoon season but such widespread destruction rarely occurs in the richest states, including the capital and neighboring Selangor.
“Floods occur every year somewhere, at some time in the country,” said Salleh Mohd Nor, a former president and senior advisor at the Malaysian Nature Society. But after more than three days of near-constant rain in late December, floodwaters rose in about three hours from a trickle in Ms. Chong’s home to touching the ceiling of the ground floor.
“This house had a lot of photos,” Ms. Chong said. “Historical, valued things from my grandparent’s time were all ruined.”Malaysia was once entirely covered in trees but nearly half have now vanished, according to green group WWF. Damien Thanam Divean, vice president of non-governmental organization PEKA Malaysia, said clear-cutting of forests, to plant crops such as palm oil and durian fruit, had reduced the ability of land to absorb water, worsening floods.
During heavy rains, however, forests and fallen vegetation slow runoff, allowing more water to enter the soil and reducing the amount flowing downstream.
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