It is the time of the year again. When it rains, it pours. I can recall when learning Georgraphy in school, the monsoon season would be in April and October. The North-East Monsoon would be from November to March, affecting East Coast Malaysia and the South-West Monsoon affects the West Coast Malaysia from May to September. The weather has been so erratic these days that we can never really predict as accurately due to global warming.

News portals have been reporting on bumper-to-bumper-crawls in and out of the city centre, residents pumping water out of their houses and that the SMART tunnel is inadequate to tackle this watery predicament. Responses from residents have been reported, many quoting that they were caught by surprise at how fast the water levels rose.

PETALING JAYA: Forty-five-year-old Abdul Samad Ali had the fright of his life when he heard the sound of rushing water and looked out of his window to see the entire backyard being flooded.

“I panicked and shouted to my wife to help me close our backdoor to prevent the water from entering our house.

“Within minutes, the water level had risen to the knees and the current was so strong that it felt like there was a river in our backyard,” said the food stall owner from Lorong Kolam Air Lama, Ampang Jaya yesterday.

Another resident, businessman Stanley Lim, said he saw part of the wall at the sewage treatment pond opposite his house collapse.

Wet cycle: Hulu Langat’s Kampung Sungai Serai residents trying to live normally despite the floods yesterday. — Bernama

“Rain water mixed with water and waste from the pond was rushing into my front porch.

“The water came with such force that it caused one of my compound walls to collapse,” he said.

He said the flood had cost him over RM200,000 in damages to his house and cars.

SPCA Selangor office manager M. Chelvy said fund-raising merchandise worth RM3,000 stored at the shelter were ruined by the floodwaters.

“However, we managed to carry all the animals to safety,” she said.

Meanwhile, some 1,000 families living along the 15km flood-hit stretch of Jalan Hulu Langat were driven out of their homes before they could save their belongings.

Residents said they were caught off-guard when the water rose up to a metre within 20 minutes.

Fuziah Md Saad, 44, from Taman Sri Nanding, said she had no time to save her personal documents or move her cars before leaving for higher ground across the road with her two daughters.

“At about 11pm, I looked out the window and saw water already in my porch. The water usually does not come into the house during heavy rain, but this time around it was flowing in from the front and back doors within minutes,” she said.

Retiree Ahmad Zawawi Kamsah, 65, said he and his wife spent the night in the rain, perched atop a car while watching floodwaters sweep through their home of 20 years.

“We got hit the worst because the houses here are two hundred metres from the riverbank,” he said.

“This is the worst flood in 20 years. There was one a few years ago but it was not as bad as this.”

Source: thestar.com.my

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