Flood havoc in KL after downpour

Flood havoc in KL after downpour

KUALA LUMPUR - Traffic in the city came to a crawl yesterday as streets that were rarely inundated during downpours were flooded in the afternoon. Six vehicles parked along Jalan Maarof in Bangsar were partially submerged after two hours of continuous rain.

Strong winds uprooted trees in many areas, which were also badly affected by flash floods.

It was understood that two drainage systems flowing to a nearby river had overflowed onto the road parallel to the Arulmigu Sri Ramalingeswarar Temple.

V. Jayamalar, 50, who left her car for about 30 minutes to pray at the temple, said when she returned, she was shocked to find her car submerged in half a metre of water.

"This is the first time something like this has happened. I am just grateful that there was no major damage on my car," said Jayamalar who waited for about two hours for water to subside.

The temple's caretaker, R. Linggam, blamed rubbish clogging drains for the flood, which caused a two-hour long congestion at the stretch.

A city traffic police spokesman said the flooding started about 3.20pm, soon after a downpour, which forced the closure of several roads.

"We had to close a few roads due to the high water level to avoid any mishaps," he said, adding that the roads were reopened soon after flood waters subsided.

As of 4.30pm yesterday, only Jalan Chan Sow Lin heading to Seremban remained closed.

The spokesman said they received a report on two cars stranded in Jalan Duta heading to Damansara.

Other affected roads included Jalan Sultan Ismail (heading towards Bukit Bintang) as well as Bulatan Belia and Bulatan Tun Razak.

In Taman Salak Selatan, a big tree uprooted, damaging several cars parked at a petrol station.

Its owner said she was thankful that the tree fell to the side of the petrol station and not on an eatery opposite.

"Thankfully, no one was injured. If the tree had fallen on the other side, many could have been hurt."

A Perodua Myvi and a Proton Iswara were among cars that were damaged in the incident.

 

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