KUALA LUMPUR: Department of Irrigation and Drainage director-general Datuk Ahmad Husaini Sulaiman said yesterday that rain had not fallen this heavy in Perlis and Kedah for 100 years.

He, therefore, described the floods as a "100-year flood".

Global Environment Centre director Faizal Parish said the floods were becoming worse as a result of climate change.

He said the increasing frequency of floods was serious as it showed there was a significant change in the climate.

"What was once a '100-year flood' is now becoming a '10-year flood'."

"The prediction for Southeast Asia is that we will experience more and more extreme weather, such as floods and droughts.

He said a holistic approach was needed to deal with the problem.

"We need to protect the rainforests and the wetlands so that rainwater can flow naturally."

He said the dry spell predicted in February and March should not be taken lightly.

"We need to start conserving water from now, so we won't experience dry periods then."

Data on rainfall patterns in northern Malaysia would reveal whether the floods were caused by climate change or development.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Institute director and geologist Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo said although it was not easy to predict the magnitude and when floods would happen, observing rainfall patterns might show up some clues.

"The important thing is to know the rainfall pattern between the last two and three weeks as it will give a good picture on whether the rainfall quantity is the highest so far.

"Then, we need to check the areas affected by the floods for development activities, such as the clearing of land on the upper reaches of the river, which of course, will determine the magnitude of the floods."

He said the Meteorological Department, which has access to rainfall records, should be able to compare the data with previous flooding incidents to see whether the current floods were caused by climate change.

University of Malaya Geology Department head Prof Dr Azman Abdul Ghani said persistent heavy rainfall this year caused some places in Kedah to be hit with severe floods.

"When it rains heavily every day in any place, extensive flooding is inevitable."

He dismissed claims that the current floods were the worst in the country.

"I don't think the flooding this time can be considered as such. In fact, there had been such flooding in Kelantan two or three years back."

He said the widespread flooding across southern Thailand might have triggered the flooding in Kedah as both states were neighbours.

He said there were also certain areas in Kedah which could not hold the abundant water from the heavy rainfall, which contributed to the flooding.

Historian Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim said the floods were comparable to the big floods of 1926, which affected the whole country.

"The government had to resort to very drastic measures to rectify the flooding problem. In Kuala Lumpur, one of the measures was to straighten the Klang River."