KLANG: Several parts in Klang were hit by flash floods after a downpour on Sunday (Sept 29).
Among the affected areas was the royal town’s Little India, which was bustling with Deepavali shoppers.
Little India, located on Jalan Tengku Kelana, is usually a hive of activity a month or two before Deepavali, which falls on Oct 31 this year.
Entrepreneurs Association of Little India Klang president Charles Manickam said the flooding happened very swiftly.
“The water rose very fast and flowed into some of the shops.
“But luckily it receded very fast as well,” said Manickam.
Several people who were caught in the watery situation uploaded videos on social media showing water levels rising to 0.3m.
The 2022 Auditor-General’s Report on Selangor revealed that, despite mitigation efforts, five out of 10 identified flood-prone hotspots in Klang experienced flooding between one and four times from 2016 to 2022.
Ironically, Jalan Tengku Kelana was one of the other five areas that ceased being flooded after the mitigation project was implemented, according to the report.
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Star in April this year in an article pertaining to floods in Malaysia, USM River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre director Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Remy Rozainy Mohd Arif Zainol said the design of most of the current flood mitigation projects was based on a 100-year rainfall recurrence.
He added that this has proven to be inadequate in containing or controlling high water volumes due to the rainfall patterns over the past few years.
Mohd Remy Rozainy had also said the design of flood mitigation structures must be upgraded to accommodate a 200-year rainfall recurrence.