The Star, Thursday September 6, 2012

Country Heights folk blame nearby projects for floods

KAJANG: Residents of Country Heights here are blaming poor drainage in surrounding developments for the flood that affected some houses in the area.

Floodwaters in the gated community rose to nearly 1.5m on Tuesday evening, affecting some houses along the lower-lying area.

Resident A.P. Sivam expressed disappointment that the developers and relevant authorities did not look into the drainage of nearby areas.

“It will take me at least a week to clean up the house and repair damaged interior fittings. Knowing that we have to pay for this when the flood was not caused by faults in this area is irritating,” the 59-year-old businessman said at his house.

Sivam experienced a flood in 2009, the year after he moved in, but said it was not as bad as Tuesday's.

Another resident, U. Krishnan, said water had not entered his house, but damaged his garden and swimming pool.

“The flood started at about 5pm and water only began to recede at 9pm. Some of my neighbours' cars had to be towed after being submerged,” he said.

Krishnan, 56, noted that although Country Heights had more affluent residents than other parts of Kajang, they were also flood victims who had incurred losses.

“Our developer told us if the problem lies with drainage in the area, repair work will be started immediately,” he said.

The Drainage and Irrigation Department website stated that rainfall readings for Kajang yesterday was at 115mm, which is more than half of the 184mm cumulative reading for last month.

At press time, the department was not available for comment.

Meanwhile in nearby Kampung Paya, about 60 houses near the Sungai Ramal river were affected.

The village mosque imam Dr Ahmad Zainudin Abdullah said the river began to overflow at about 5pm and had reached up to 1.2m in some places by 9pm.

“Many residents could not salvage their furniture, clothes, electrical items or cars,” he said.