Video: Waves breach sea wall, overflowing into grounds of Penang hotel

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Waves pounding the walls of the Straits Quay promenade at 7pm at a spot close to where over 1,100 acres of land is being reclaimed - Photograph: Chui Lim

A video has surfaced showing waves crashing over a sea wall and flooding the grounds of a hotel in Penang. It is unclear if it is a new incident or an earlier incident.

The video clip has been posted on the Penang Kini Facebook page.

When contacted, a hotel staff said the flooding of the the grounds was “fake news” but, when pressed, said the damage or mess was minor and it had been cleared by this evening.

In the video, hotel staff are heard being warned by an executive not to post video clips of the ongoing incident on Facebook as directors had seen such video footage posted by staff all over the place.

Irrespective of when this occurred, the question is, why is the hotel trying to suppress this information from the public?

Meanwhile, a resident in Tanjung Tokong said waves could be heard pounding on rocks at the sea front from her high-rise apartment the whole day. The state has been buffeted by strong winds and tides over the last couple of days. (See video of waves at Esplanade.)

Take this as another warning sign of climate change and rising sea levels.

The incident is believed to have occurred a few kilometres away from massive land reclamation work being undertaken by E & O for mostly high-end housing that will eventually cover over 1,100 acres in North East Penang Island.

Nature has a way of biting back.

Earlier this year, the South China Morning Post reported that China was putting a stop to all commercial land reclamation after damning environmental reports:

Tao Jianhua, a marine environment expert at Tianjin University, said it was often cheaper for local governments in China to reclaim land than to obtain rights to land.

He said the tighter restrictions could not reverse the environmental damage caused by huge reclamation works in the past decades.

“It’s too late,” Tao said. “But it is a necessary step to stop those who are still looking … to develop by reclaiming land.”

After a nationwide environmental inspection last year, a number of coastal provinces were accused of lax supervision in granting reclamation projects.

In a report on the southern resort island of Hainan, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said land reclamation projects had been approved that ended up damaging fragile coral reefs and the coastal ecosystem.

The Penang state government, however, is adamant about pressing ahead with land reclamation despite environmental concerns about rising sea levels, damage to fragile coastlines, potential siltation (leading to high dredging costs borne by taxpayers), and loss of fishing waters and food security.

Meanwhile, this was the warning from the Met Department:

SECOND CATEGORY WARNING
WARNING ON STRONG WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS

SECTION A : FOR SHIPPING1) WARNING ON STRONG WIND & ROUGH SEAS (SECOND CATEGORY)

Strong Southwesterly winds of 50-60 kmph with waves up to 4.5 metres are expected over the waters of Phuket and Samui until Tuesday, 19th June 2018.

This condition of strong winds and rough seas is dangerous to all shipping and coastal activities including fishing and ferry services.

2) WARNING ON STRONG WINDS & ROUGH SEAS (FIRST CATEGORY)

Strong Southwesterly winds of 40-50 kmph with waves up to 3.5 metres are expected over the waters of Northern Straits of Malacca, Condore, Reef North, Layang-Layang and Palawan until Tuesday, 19th June 2018.

This condition of strong winds and rough seas is dangerous to small crafts, recreational sea activities and water sports.

SECTION B: FOR MALAYSIAN WATERS

WARNING ON STRONG WINDS & ROUGH SEAS (FIRST CATEGORY)

Strong Southwesterly winds of 40-50 kmph with waves up to 3.5 metres are expected over the waters of Perlis, Kedah and Penang until Tuesday, 19th June 2018.

This condition of strong winds and rough seas is dangerous to small crafts, recreational sea activities and water sports.

Updated on 18 June 2018, at 4:00PM

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Murali Subramaniam

What so funny?? When you reclaim you are reducing the water areas. You are blocking the waterways. Water which had wider space to pass now have only narrow spaces. So the speed and strength of it increases helped by weather condition as well. The current conditions of that areas as well affected. It’s being diverted but earth Coriolis force still works. Nature. Sea level rises in that area and not far away. Just go and study the Singapore reclamation areas.

Murali Subramaniam

Tan Dau Chin bad understanding from your side. Your earlier argument was reclamation cause rise of sea level n yes that’s true. N ur latest, u r twisting. Have a good day sir.

XiaoHua

Need scientific evidence.

Shriek

Water find its own level and seawater does not have border fence to stop it from moving.
What is the surface area of earth. 1/4 is land mass. How much land reclamation is required to raise the seawater by 10mm?
Why malaysia dont sue singland or singland sue malaysia for sea level rise or damage to coast due to reclamation? Same as hundreds of indon islands close to singland? Philippines to bring china for reclaming some rocky outposts and cause philippine island to disappear?

tunglang

Warning from Hai Leng Ong (Sea Dragon King): “You messed with Me, I now mess with you” This natural retribution will be a frequent occurrence like it or not. Say it’s Karma, Hai Leng Ong’s or whatever, if you don’t wake up to the ‘facts’ of Nature’s wrath, you are asking for it! Meanwhile, the people suffer. ‘Facts’ of Nature’s wrath: sea level rising unprecedented & superseding early scientist warning (Northern Hemisphere) fast melting of snow caps in the Artic sea warming leading to bleaching of corals in Australia sea warming affecting regional weather patterns in Atlantic Ocean (US hurricanes)… Read more »

Shriek

Man orso unpredictable like kim jong un and trump. Same with World Cup. German can lost to amigos mexico and samba drew with swiss cottage

quan

They never ever learned from the 2004 tsunami. Start a campaign to warn Penangites to stay away from reclaimed seaside, and protest strongly any future sea reclamation in Penang.

Shriek

U mean tsunsmi strike acheh again? Do you really what cause tsunami?

glissantia

According to the most “religious” people, climate change is a hoax and/or they themselves will be exempted from the laws of physics. To confirm, talk to one of them who trusts you. This is what their leaders want them to believe – until the latter have finished plundering, sold off their vulnerable real estate and retreated to their delusional refuges.

Sp Tay

Global warming is real unless of course you are an American who supports Trump, coal……rising seas……nothing you can do abt it….so beware if you have choice properties near the beaches

Ranjit

No need to blame USA, when so many cars in a
Penang releasing co and co2 to the atmosphere.

Yu Leng

Worrying about apparent stronger impact of stormy seas for Penang. Need more spend on coastal protection? In the US, we hear about Trump and EPA climate issues denial, but the US Navy has spending money raising their navy base infrastructure – presumably ongoing? Some mention here, https://hbr.org/ideacast/2017/08/how-the-u-s-navy-is-responding-to-climate-change.

tunglang

John Lennon Imagine: High-speed storm + tsunami combo. Good luck to your beautiful eastern & oriental fashioned bungalows!

Norman
Shriek

Global warning and climate change. China has resorted to electric buses and to cut down emissions. What has pg lang been doing?

Mah HS

pg lang buying cars because no GST & no petrol price hike…

Arcus @ Bryan

Sorry not c.change/rising seas to attribute here. There’s no news release (should been one) from the Mal… https://t.co/aRVDdy7Okz

Arcus @ Bryan

Temporary increased in storms frequency coming from the west during this surge period as well. A well ti… https://t.co/CaOWccO0gR

Jong

What if it’s tsunami? …irresponsible for hotel management to keep it from hotel guests, Penang public… https://t.co/1cO6Hl2jiB

Jong

WoW, not a very good sign… tsunami about to happen?

Ho Wan Lai

I wonder why Anil insists on staying on island of Penang to be consumed by tsunami, come over to live in mainland the WiFi is not bad for you to reach out to yr followers

Niel F. Schubert

No video link. Click bait.