The Star, Metro, Thursday September 6, 2012

Wet night for Kajang

A downpour in the Klang Valley on Tuesday evening caused flash floods and massive traffic jam. Kajang and Serdang were the worst-hit areas with water reaching as high as 1m in some residential areas. Several schools were forced to shut yesterday to facilitate clean-up.

A clean-up operation was carried out in the outskirts of Kajang after flash floods wreaked havoc on Tuesday evening, forcing more than 200 families to move out of their houses as flood waters reached waist-high.

The Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) sent out a damage assessment team to determine the number of houses and businesses that were affected by the floods.

Inundated: A house near Sungai Ramal during the flash floods on Tuesday evening.

 

Council president Datuk Hasan Nawawi Abd Rahman said the immediate measure was to help residents clean their houses of mud and silt.

“We have sent out a team of 30 men equipped with water jets to clean the affected houses and roads. We are also evaluating damage done to these premises to ascertain the losses.

“Tuesday’s downpour started at 3.30pm and lasted for four hours. Within the first two hours, the rain index was above 60mm according to the Drainage and Irrigation Department’s (DID) alert signal. It reached 113mm at 5.43pm which was classified as a disaster alert,” he said.

Hasan said he was informed of the flash floods by the Kajang police operations room.

Tough job: Many spent the morning cleaning their houses of mud and silt.

 

“DID notified me that water had overflowed the banks of Sungai Langat and Sungai Jelok. The situation worsened as the downpour continued until 7.30pm. Drains around the villages of Kampong Jambu, Taman Muhibbah, Sungai Kantan, Taman Sekamat Kampong Tasik Sungai Chuah, Kampong Paya in Sungai Ramal and Taman Impian Setia at Jalan 8 were inundated with water,” he said.

Hasan said the North-South Expressway opposite Country Heights heading towards Universiti Putra Malaysia was closed to traffic for 40 minutes as it was flooded.

“No one in Kajang was evacuated from their houses to the relief centre as flood waters subsided by 10pm and clean-up had begun in the wee hours of the morning,” he said.

He added that reports found that ponds close to the river had also burst their banks.

A check with the Kajang police showed no reports were lodged on injuries caused by the floods.