SHAH ALAM, Feb 20 — Rotten tree roots and waterlogged soil are believed to be among the causes of a tree falling incident on Persiaran Tun Arshad Ayub, Section 7, last Monday.
Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) Landscape Department director Majidah Md Ali said claims that the incident was caused by weak soil structure are considered preliminary assumptions.
“We need to check with the Geoscience Department. However, when it happened, we saw the roots had rotted, which indicates a high level of water saturation there.
“I think it’s too early to say there is a soil water problem at the site,” she told reporters after the Shah Alam Mayor’s oath-taking ceremony at Wisma MBSA here today.
Majidah added that action has been taken on 15 high-risk trees, each around 30 years old, after MBSA activated an emergency audit last Tuesday. The council is now assessing a further 264 trees in the area.
“We have inspected 15 high-risk trees there, and pruning has already been carried out to reduce risk.
"There are 264 remaining trees, and we will conduct an assessment whether they need only pruning or complete removal. The report for the entire area was just completed today,” she said.
The emergency audit was activated following the tree-fall incident that damaged a vehicle on Persiaran Tun Arshad Ayub.
MBSA said it has appointed a certified arborist to carry out detailed technical inspections and take immediate action on high-risk trees.
In the incident on Monday, two Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) lecturers were injured after their vehicle was struck by a fallen tree near an apartment.
The victims were identified as Nur Shahidah Ab Aziz, 39, and Shareena Fairuz Abdul Manaf, 42, both lecturers at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, UiTM Shah Alam. They are currently receiving treatment at Shah Alam Hospital.
