Flash floods strike KL after evening downpour

 

Flash floods have struck central Kuala Lumpur this evening, just as office workers were about to leave the city for home.

Reports and photos of the flood began appearing on social media sites after 5pm during an hour-long downpour, as road user complained of the resulting traffic mayhem.

According to Star Radio Traffic's twitter account @mytraffic, the roads flooded include Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Chan Sow Lin, Jelatek LRT station, the Cheras roundabout tunnel.

Meanwhile, the Malay-language tabloid Kosmo tweeted that over 100 vehicles were damaged by the flood at Jalan Pinang.

Other major roads widely reported as being flooded include Jalan Ampang, and the area around the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Several netizens also lamented the fact that the flood also coincided an impending fuel hike at midnight tonight.

"Fuel prices go up, flood waters go up, people's tempers go up, (but) football rankings don't go up.

"All these are (PKR de facto leader) Anwar Ibrahim's fault," tweeted the netizen @DeeyaHazard, apparently making reference to Anwar’s frequent jibes at his opponents for blaming him for various, disparate problems.

Another Twitter user, @beautifulnara, wrote, "It's bad enough that it is flooding, not I have to queue up to refuel. What a trial."

Landslide

In a later report, newswire Bernama said that the heavy downpour also caused a landslide in front of Sri Putra Mas condominium at Jalan Data Mas at about 5.50pm.

"The landslide also caused traffic congestion in the areas as the slip closed half the road. However, no victim was trapped," Kuala Lumpur fire and rescue operation centre head Samsol Maarif said.

The operation to clean up the area was mounted with the cooperation from several agencies, including Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and was completed at 7.30pm.

He said the landslide was believed to have occurred due to the soil movement at the construction site of a new condominium in the area.

Meanwhile, he said areas in Jalan Raja Chulan and Dang Wangi were inundated by flash floods, while four vehicles parked near Sentul police stations were damaged by fallen trees.

No casualties were reported.