The Star, Saturday December 3, 2011

Residents in Kajang caught unawares by downpour, KL also not spared

KUALA LUMPUR: A three-hour-long downpour flooded the Klang Valley town of Kajang while bringing the national capital to a traffic standstill. 

 

Floodwaters gushed into the homes and shops in the township, stranding many people at shoppers' favourites such as Plaza Metro.

Some were caught off guard in their vehicles as strong currents swirled around them. Cars in the basement of the shopping complex were submerged.

Taxi drivers pushing their vehicles through floodwaters. In some areas, the water level rose to as high as 1.5m. The floods damaged vehicles, homes and shophouses.

 

The badly affected areas in the township were Jalan Bukit, Jalan Sulaiman, Jalan Raja Haroun, Jalan Tun Abdul Aziz and Jalan Jelok Tiga.

In some places, the water level was as high as 1.5m.

The rain started at about 3pm.

About two hours later, it became a drizzle, and the floodwaters receded to leave a trail of damaged vehicles, homes and shophouses.

Nine people, including three senior citizens, were plucked to safety late in the evening.

Parked vehicles stranded in flash floods which hit Kajang town after the downpour yesterday.

 

Over in Kuala Lumpur, motorists were stuck in a massive gridlock along the New Klang Valley Expressway, Elite, Kesas and Kajang highways.

In a dramatic scene caught on video and uploaded onto YouTube, several people rescued a woman trapped on top of a van amid the havoc in Kajang.

They lowered a ladder onto the roof of the vehicle and hauled her up.

 

To safety: A video grab from YouTube showing people helping a stranded woman reach higher ground in Kajang yesterday.

 

Another video showed staff of a shopping centre desperately moving merchandise to higher floors.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Mohamad Sani Harul said several people trapped at home were brought to safety.

“They were from Kampung Sungai Kantan and Jalan Kelapa,” he said.

Sani said the department received a distress call at about 3.50pm and arrived at the scene 10 minutes later with a team of 14 firemen from stations in Kajang and Cheras.

Kajang Fire and Rescue Department station chief Ariff Mohd Kassim said heavy rain caused Sungai Jelok and Sungai Kantan to overflow and submerge areas around the Kajang market.

The flash floods also halted KTM train services into the town.

Kajang assemblyman Lee Kim Sin was quoted as saying that the natural disaster was the worst since the big flood in 1971.

Kajang Municipal Council workers were busy clearing the streets of river sediment late into the night using heavy machinery.

Damage to vehicles and businesses was estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of ringgit.