Malaysia - Floods ravage Malaysian capital

Flash floods caused by a heavy downpour created havoc in certain parts of Kuala Lumpur's Klang Valley, damaging houses, creating bumper-to-bumper crawls and even landslides which resulted in the death of a 13-year-old boy.

Raja Mohd Irfan Raja Azlan was pronounced dead at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital at 11:50pm on Wednesday (March 7). He was earlier trapped in heavy mud.

A Fire and Rescue department spokesperson said the boy was alive when firemen saved and rushed him to the hospital.

A neighbour identified as Zahara said the victim was playing behind his house at Jalan Brickfields, Kampung Attap government quarters when the tragedy occurred.

Elsewhere, furious motorists found themselves in a crawl while many residents in Ampang struggled with massive cleaning up throughout the night after floodwaters gushed into their houses following the flash floods.

The heavy downpour yesterday evening had caused the banks of dozens of drains to overflow.

Iswan Abdullah was about to go out to celebrate his 51st birthday when he was horrified to see flood waters rushing into his living room.

Like the other residents at the Lorong Kolam Air Lama in Ampang Jaya, Iswan was wading ankle-deep in water when floodwaters, which had overflowed from a nearby drain, filled their houses.

Having experienced this twice before, Izwan was furious as he had already lodged numerous complaints about the drain to the local council.

Meanwhile, Ampang Wanita Umno division chief Dr Rozaidah Talib said: “Some 400 people have been left stranded and currently are temporarily staying at Lembah Jaya Utara surau.”

Other areas like Lebuh Ampang, Jalan Pinang, Kampung Baru, Ampang, Taman Kosas, Jalan Bangsar and Jalan Sultan Ismail were also temporarily inundated by floods.

Netizens who were caught in traffic tweeted continuously about the floods, thunderstorm and bumper-to-bumper crawl.

Many shared their updates and frustrations at the KL Traffic Update twitter page, including those about fallen trees and stalled cars.

Netizen @neeti371 tweeted about the flash floods on Jalan Sultan Ismail, and said: “Many cars have died'.. Be careful guys.”

Some lamented that floods were a common occurence after heavy downpours.

Another found a light moment despite the chaos.

“Can I please leave office early if it rains like this again tomorrow? Please boss... Heavy rain. Floods. I am not a good swimmer,” tweeted @maba_ar in Malay.

Lim Wey Wen, Rashitha A. Hamid and Rahimy Rahim

The Star

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